Toss To Me!
by 123anime
Summary: Kageyama hasn't been acting like himself. Hinata, being an idiot, wishes on an airplane. Cat fluffiness ensues. Sugawara and Daichi get suspicious when Hinata goes missing and a cat starts following Kageyama to practice. Kageyama/Hinata, Kagehina, implied Daisuga and a bit of Iwaoi. Practically everyone makes an appearance.
1. Chapter 1: Airplane

_In which Hinata thinks about Oikawa's question, and the rest was all Oikawa's fault, really. Well, okay, not really. Hinata was the one who wished upon an airplane-what type of idiot wishes on an airplane?!_

* * *

This was it. He swung off his bike, Ukai-senpai's words from the day earlier still echoing through his's head. It's true, there were many other high schools on the same level as Aoba Josaii. Spring tournaments were coming up, and there was no time to lose. He was going to get better, and better, and then WHAM! Karasuno would make it to the nationals, and they'd play against Nekoma, _once more_.

Hinata's eyes shone, and he smiled, _Once more_. He opened the door and took off his shoes. It was still quiet, but not for long, for Natsu was coming home soon. He rushed up the stairs, taking two at a time, feeling adreline pump through his veins. _Once more_. _ Yes, he'd practice, get better, and he'll go GWAH and PAH and Kageyama will send him that ace toss and POW and well, Kageyama wasn't tossing to him properly but he'll get over that soon and -_

_Bzz. Bzz._ Hm? Hinata paused, was someone texting him now? _Bzz. Bzz_. He eyed the volleyball sitting underneath his desk. Another text? Hinata took out his phone.

5:00pm Grand King

_Hi Shoyou-chan! Iwa-chan and I are having a rendez-vous_

_Do you and Tobio-chan want to come 3_

5:01pm Hinata Shoyou

_Yeah! That would be awesome! _

_A two-on-two volleyball match!_

_I'll ask Kageyama_

Hinata snapped his phone shut, quickly changing into his volleyball shoes. A match! With the Grand King! He'll be able to show him how much he's improved-

Bzz. Bzz.

5:05pm Grand King

_Not that kind of rendez-vous, Shoyou-chan~_

Hinata cocked his head, confused.

5:05pm Hinata Shoyou

_? Then what for?_

There seemed to be a pause, before Hinata got a reply.

5:06pm Grand King

_A double, you know._

5:06pm Hinata Shoyou

_Um, I still don't follow you..._

5:06 Grand King

_Aw, Iwa-chan was totally right_

_don't tell him I said that_

_Ah, Shoyou-chan, don't you ever think of things beside volleyball?_

_You really should, you know~_

_Hm, take my advice, okay?_

Hinata frowns quizzically, but shoves his phone in his pocket. Maybe he'll ask Kageyama to explain to him what this meant? Or...wait a minute...wasn't Kageyama worse at this type of stuff then he was? Kageyama...

"Nii-chan!" Hinata jumps at the sound of his door slamming open. "Kaa-san said it's time to eat!" Natsu yells, her orange hair almost identical to his, "Hurry up!"

_Hurry up, Dumbass._ That's what Kageyama would say. Except...Kageyama hasn't really been talking to him lately? What's up with that? It's no fun hitting tosses from a setter who seems to toss to him when there was no other person to toss to. It's not fun when Kageyama doesn't-

"Nii-chan!" Natsu yells, her voice raising up an octave.

"Okay, Natsu, I'm coming!" Hinata pushes Kageyama out of his thoughts. Everyone had bad days, didn't they?

* * *

Unfortunately, Hinata couldn't really keep Kageyama out of his thoughts. As soon as he got back to his room and layed down on his bed, his thoughts drifted back to the raven hair midnight blue setter. For the umpteenth time of the day, Hinata wondered why he couldn't be like a normal player and be _satisfied_ with Suga's serve. Oh wait, why did he even use the word _satisfied_? That sounded so...ugh. Why couldn't he just be _happy_ with-oh yes, this word was better than satisfied. "Happy" sounded less _ugh_. Anyway, as Hinata was saying to himself, why? Why Kageyama, of all people? He could still do the super-fast quick spike with Suga, although the evolved super-awesome quick spike wasn't achievable, but-

Why? Hinata groaned, flopping onto his stomach and stuffing his face into his pillow. Kageyama wasn't tossing to him like usual the whole week. Yeah, Kageyama still tossed to him, but it felt like Kageyama only did it when he had to; like when it was his turn during the warm-ups to spike Kageyama's toss. Or when it was clear that Asahi, Tsukishima, and practically everyone else had a go three times that Kageyama sends the ball to Hinata. Reluctantly. The tosses didn't have the usual _umph_ and _pow_ and that was what got on Hinata's nerve. Was Kageyama finally getting tired of sending him tosses? Did Kageyama not like sending Hinata his special tosses anymore? Hinata felt a weird feeling grow in his chest. Kageyama... nope, not helping at all. Stupid Kageyama. Not sending him tosses when he was right there and was right there and wasn't it-

Hinata gasped, pushing himself off the bed and running towards the window. He flung it open and stuck his head outside, trying to breath deeply and exhale. The chilly night air drifted in. _Calm down_, he told himself, _calm down_. Kageyama was probably having one of his moody days again. Well, usually Kageyama would just argue with him more often, or his tosses would be all wrong for everyone. Maybe Kageyama was having a special moody day where-but this had been going on all week. Well maybe-oh screw it. Kageyama wasn't sending him tosses. Well he was, but not Kageyama tosses. They were different. Kageyama tosses make spiking it really fun. It made his heart go all gwaah and bwah when he-something wet trickled down his cheeks. Hinata let a quiet sob escape. Kageyama... The tears started gushing faster. Kageyama...

_Can we pretend that airplanes _

_In the night sky_

_Are like shooting stars?_ -B.o.B

A shooting star? Hinata swept his arm over his face. An airplane...it was merely a flashing light out there, moving slowly yet quickly across the dark sky.

_Ah, Shoyou-chan, don't you ever think of things beside volleyball?_

Oikawa's words echoed at the back of his mind. A double what? Stupid grand king, making him think about Tobio-NO NO NO it's _Kageyama_. Hinata hiccuped, his eyes following the flashing light. Kageyama...

"Kageyama is an idiot! I-" Hinata hiccuped, cutting himself off, "I want to hit his tosses! His real tosses! I want him to-" Hinata hiccuped again, fresh tears streaming down his face, "Kageyama, stop being so-" Hinata paused, wiping his eyes, "I want Kageyama to make my heart go GWAH and BWAH and give me his POW tosses and say yes again when I ask him to come over to my house. I-" Hinata took a breath, furiously wiping his eyes. He braced himself, and yelled out to the night sky, his eyes fixed on that airplane, "I WISH KAGEYAMA WOULD SMILE AT ME AND CALL ME "DUMBASS" AND SPEND TIME WITH ME AGAIN WITHOUT ACTING LIKE HE DOESN'T WANT TO!"

The airplane's lights flashed, before dissappearing out of sight.

...To be continued~


	2. Chapter 2 Kageyama doesn't get it either

_See nice Oikawa text Hinata. See scheming Oikawa text Kageyama. Oikawa's intentions are good though, they really are. _

* * *

There was a moment of silence, promptly broken by Natsu flinging the door open. Her mouth was open, ready to yell at her Nii-chan to be quiet; the whole house was trying to sleep. The orange kitty perched on the window sill let out a high-pitched meow and tumbled out the half-open window. Natsu's eyes widened, fixed on the spot where the kitty had been moments ago, "Nii-chan?" She rushes to the window, and looks down at the grass. She let out a happy sigh when she saw the kitty get back on its paws, it's left ear twitching. It paused for a moment, and brown eyes met Natsu's own. "Come back soon, Nii-chan!" Natsu whispers. The kitty's whiskers twitch, bringing a big smile to Natsu's face. Natsu goes back to bed, closing Hinata's bedroom door quietly behind her.

(^^^)

Hinata's eyes follow Natsu's movements, then turns away when Natsu leaves to go to sleep. A cool breeze passes by, reminding him of the airplane that had been there and _what_ was he thinking about again before Natsu had scared him, looking possibly five times larger than before. Oh right, Kageyama... Hinata looks up at the window sill. Well, there was no way he was going to be able to get back up there now-not that he really wanted to. He padded to the road, looking at the now seemingly impossible long path downhill. The bright moon overhead would be his source of light, and he had nothing better to do. Hinata gave himself a good shake, then started down the hill towards Kageyama's house.

Typical Hinata.

Here he was, right in front of the ridiculously tall door-Kageyama right on the other side-but he had no means to get inside. Well, he could knock, but everyone would probably be asleep in the middle of the night. Hinata looked up at the dark sky that had a light horizon far off in the east. Okay, so it wasn't the middle of the night now, but there had to be a more effortless way to do this-Ah. Hinata's eyes lit up when he saw the spruce tree at the side of the house, one of it's long branches practically touching the partially opened window. _Bingo._

He threw himself at the tree, and scampered upwards, eyes fixated on the branch that led to the open window. To do a good jump, there needs to to be a good approach. He picked up speed, his hindlegs kicking off right at the edge of the branch. He ducked his head and _shoom_, he's inside. He's _falling_ inside.

Apparently it's not luck, but Hinata's superb reflexes that cause him to land on his feet. However, anyone could argue that it was luck that left Hinata to land in a pile of soft, very soft, things. Well, most of them were soft, except for the metal water bottle that Hinata accidently wacked his tail over. Other than that, everything else... smells like Kageyama. Wait. That was not what Hinata wanted to say to himself. Totally not. Well, to be fair, it did smell like Kageyama. Hinata automatically let out a soft purr, before burying his face into the nearest softest cloth-was it a towel, maybe? He started to feel the long trek to Kageyama's place catching up to him. Hinata's eyelids started to droop. He inhaled Kageyama's scent. It was so soft...and warm...the warmth radiated off of himself but... He pawed at the clothing, careful to keep his claws-he discovered them while climbing the tree-sheathed. Hinata finally stopped, dove into the little nest he had made for himself.

Hinata paused. Where was he inside, exactly?

Did it even matter where he was? He yawned, wrapping his tail around himself. He could look for Kageyama tomorrow. Right now, the softness and Kageyama's scent were (almost) enough.

(^^^)

_ Bzz. Bzz. Practice_ is the first thing that pops into Kageyama's mind, pulling him from his latest dream of who knows what. He lies there for a few moments, thinking about the volleyball practice, that last jump serve he did, tossing, and Hinata-NO. Must. Not. Think. Hinata. NO. NO. NO THINKING ABOUT HIM. Um. Kageyama's normal scowl turned into _death scowl number one_. Need... Hinata. NO. NO. Need... Distraction. Yes. DISTRACTION. Um.

Kageyama's brain does not function properly in the mornings. Especially during the first five minutes.

Distraction. Um. _Bzz. Bzz._ Why was his phone buzzing so early in the morning? It...also buzzed right when he woke up, didn't it? Or did it wake him up? Wasn't that his alarm clock's job? ...Maybe Hinata messaged him. A small smile made it's way to Kageyama's face. Suddenly, his corner of his lips twitched, and he instantly tried to rub the smile off his face. Hinata messaging him would not be a good thing. Hinata messaging him would mean that he would-

Kageyama opened his phone. _Death scowl number one_ morphed back into _normal frowny face_ as he scanned the noticifications. _One unread message from Sugawara-san. One unread message from...Oikawa-senpai._ Dammit. Kageyama's eyebrows knit with dissappointment. Secretly, not that he would ever admit it, his traiterous heart had been hoping that it had been Hinata who had sent the texts-OHMYGODNO.

_To: Karasuno Volleyball Club_

_Hi ^.^ Morning practice is cancelled, sorry 'bout that. See you all at our afternoon practice!_

Practice is so messed up these days.

Stupid Hinata.

WHY WAS HE EVEN THINKING ABOUT HINATA?!

_ However..._ Kageyama rubbed his chin _Without morning practice, it should be easier to avoid Hinata altogether in the morning. _ Perhaps today was his lucky day. He would still need to get to school earlier than Hinata, to prevent overflowing feelings when Hinata would race him to the entrance. But without practice, he wouldn't need to stress himself out by resisting tossing to Hinata. That would be his highlight of the day...until the afternoon. He'll deal with that later. But first..

_One unread message from Oikawa-senpai._

Kageyama narrowed his eyes, then opened it.

_To: Tobio-chan_

_Tobio-chan! Feel free to come hang out with me and Iwa-chan once _  
_you've figured out your life, 'kay? :)_

Hah? Figured his life out? What was that suppose to mean? Kageyama reads over the message once again, wondering if he had missed some sort of hidden message. Apparently after reading in between the lines, Oikawa's message seemed even more stupid. And cryptic, considering this was Oikawa Tooru. Uh...What the hell. Kageyama tsked under his breath, turing his phone off.

After eating a quick breakfast, Kageyama slips on his karasuno jacket. He checks the time, making sure he'd be able to get to school way earlier than Hinata, then picks up his sports bag. It felt slightly heavier than usual. He was...probably just imagining it. "Tobio-chan, I'm coming home late today, okay?" Kageyama nods, not that his mother saw, and gives his usual "okay". He closes the door behind him.

(^^^)

..to be continued.

* * *

GUYS

when I was writing Oikawa's text to Kageyama

smf-Hahaha popped into my head

and now it won't go away

literally running through my head *hahahahahahahahaha* in that really deep sound

and then I started picturing Tsukishima going around muttering *hahahahaha* under his breath

I'm sorry this chapter was so short. Stuff here basically sets up the next chapter, that's all. I'm sorry. Yes, these details were important. Yes, it would be way better if I combined the next chapter with this one. But I couldn't get the time shift right. *all excuses I know* Thank you for being patient :)


	3. Chapter 3: Meat Buns

_His love for meatbuns will never rival his love for volleyball or Kageyama; afterall, these three things go together. Hinata will never stop loving meatbuns._

* * *

Practice afterschool comes around, and Kageyama shows up at the gym alone.

He's come in earlier than usual. Daichi, Suga, and the other third years looks at him for a moment, then Suga gives him the happy smile, breaking the awkward atmosphere. Kageyama nods in greeting before dropping his sports bag in the change room. He pulls out his t-shirt and shorts that are at the top layer, frowning at the mess of clothes and whatnot. Since when did his bag get so messy?

He takes a deep breath, and decides not to dwell on it. The volleyball court was right outside. A glance at his phone confirmed that, yes, Hinata would be showing up in a few minutes. Kageyama took a deep breath. _Calm down. As long as you don't toss to Hinata today, you'll be fine. Toss to...Tanaka. Asahi. Even Tsukishima. If it gets too bad, you can ask Suga-san to switch you onto the other team. Don't look back when Hinata gives you the puppy face. Then you'll be fine. You'll be fine. You'll be fine._

He tosses his neatly folded karasuno jacket while slipping on his shirt. The jacket lands perfectly on top of his bag, which Kageyama never bothered to zip up until after practice. Kageyama half-wonders why Hinata isn't complaining about him showing off his skills, before remembering that Hinata wasn't there. Yet.

Kageyama is changed into his volleyball shorts and t-shirt when Tanaka arrives, with a bouncy Nishinoya at his side.

"Eh?!" Tanaka points at Kageyama, "Where's Hinata?!"

"You ditched him!" Nishinoya throws Kageyama an accusing glare, which Kageyama raises his eyebrows at, "You ditched your soul mate!" _Soul mate?_ Nishinoya promptly launches himself at Asahi, who looks confused, "But Asahi will never ditch me, right? RIGHT?"

Asahi looks confused, but nods. _Good, Asahi's here. That meant he could toss to him, instead of Hinata. But his fingers itched to practice the drop toss with Hinata-_

"Kageyama," Tanaka is suddenly inches away from his face, tears streaming down his eyes, "You will never appreciate the never-ending affection that-"

"Tanaka," says Daichi, smiling his I'm-not-happy smile, "I'm sure there is a good reason to why Kageyama showed up without Hinata today."

_No, there isn't,_ Kageyama wants to slam his face against a wall, _unless if avoiding Hinata so that his heart doesn't go out of control counts._

In comes Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and Kageyama lets out a sigh of relief because they wouldn't start ranting about this. They just don't. Kageyama took a few deep breaths to prepare himself to not get too excited when Hinata arrives.

Except.

Tsukishima surveys the scene, the pushes up his glasses, "Hinata wasn't here today. That's why he's not at practice."

Tanaka and Nishinoya instantly pounce on Tsukishima, bombarding him with questions about Hinata's abscence. Kageyama stares at Tsukishima blankly.

_What._

"You didn't know?" Tsukishima says slowly, ignoring Tanaka and Nishinoya. _Oh shit, he said that out loud._ Tsukishima's glasses glint, "Is the King's loyal Queen finally deserting him?" Kageyama glares back. Tsukishima laughs at his own joke, softening the blow of his words a bit, before saying, "Don't you guys, eat lunch together, or something like that?"

_Yes. Usually._ Kageyama wanted to scream out his frustration. All that preparation for nothing. _And here he had thought he'd gotten better at the let's-avoid-Hinata-as-much-as-I-can-so-that-I-don't-feel-too-out-of-control-around-him rule that he made up himself. _

_Well then. At least that means I'll be able to play better than usual. _

"Alright everyone, after the warm-up, we're going to start with practicing our tosses," Daichi's captain voice pulled him out of his thoughts. They formed a cirlce and started stretching...

Kageyama and Suga get into position, while the other team members split themselves into two lines. Kageyama's first toss is slightly off, but Asahi hits it on point anyways. _That's why he's our ace._ The ball is flying towards him again, and he positions his hands, I'll get this one right. Afterall, Hinata isn't here to distract me- _Except this toss is a bit too far to the left._ Daichi doesn't say anything, but Kageyama could feel his eyes linger on his back a little longer than usual. Damn it.

Tsukishima steps up, "What's wrong, King? Lost you're genius touch?"

Kageyama glares at him before tossing the volleyball. He's given with it a little less than usual, and the position of his wrist was way off for his normal toss to Tsukishima. The ball goes too fast, too-

Tsukishima spiked it, but he will not let it go. "Hey King. That toss-"

"Sorry," Kageyama forces it out of his lips, knowing inwardly that it wasn't Tsukishima's fault he was acting like this. It wasn't. It was...Hinata's fault. _That was a Hinata toss, wasn't it?!_ He groaned. _WHY WAS HE THINKING ABOUT HINATA AGAIN?!_

"Alright everyone. We'll practice our serves now," Daichi says. The players split up, each running to pick up a volleyball off the ground and practice their serves. Kiyoko sets up the waterbottles.

"Kageyama." Kageyama looks up to see Suga's understanding smile, "Don't worry. Hinata will probably show up for our practice match on Sunday. Then you can toss to him again, okay?"

_Toss to Hinata?_ _He wanted to, he really did. But then he might loose control and-_

"Kageyama?" Sugawara just won't give up on his kohai.

Kageyama nods, his gaze fixed on the ground.

(^^^)

All was calm and quiet in the Karasuno boys' changeroom. The door was heavy and thick, muffling the sounds of volleyballs hitting the grounds, the shouts of "Nice one" and "A little higher" coming from the gym.

Suddenly, a muffled shuffle was heard from Kageyama's blue sports bag, on top of the bench. Kageyama's neatly folded Karasuno jacket shifted a bit. There's a pause, before it shifts again, more violently this time. A high-pitched meow is heard after the painful thud of something colliding with metal (probably Kageyama's stupid waterbottle). The thing underneath wriggles, and an orange ear sticks out of the bag. It dissappears back inside, and stays like that for a bit, struggling to get off the jacket. After a few minutes of intense struggle, the jacket seems to rise with it, the flap of the bag falling backwards. The karasuno jacket, looking like a small hill of black with an orange ear sticking out and a tail waving behind it, balanced precariously on the edge of the bench. The tail waves around madly as it tries to regain its balance.

The door suddenly opens with a squeak, and the tail freezes in mid-swing. Tanaka prances in, singing about his beautiful abs. He unzips his own bag, pulls out a bag of cookies, and proceeds to eating them while singing. He doesn't notice the _thing_ that's about to fall. Tanaka gets to the chorus and, in one swift motion, pulls off his shirt and starts swinging it, hollering at the top of the lungs, "Everyone loves Tanaka when he's shirtless, it's shirtless Tanaka Friday, ooh~".

Outside the door, the other members groan before Ennoshita yells at Tanaka to shut up. Tanaka's response is a high-pitched scream. There's a moment of silence as all the members look at each other. Suga looks slightly worried. Daichi lookes shocked. Asahi looks scared. Tsukishima rolls his eyes. Kageyama has _normal-frowny-face_ on, probably still thinking about his second-last jump-serve. Or maybe about how distracted he had been when tossing. Who knew. Yamaguchi was right next to Tsukishima, like always.

Nishinoya breaks the silence by pushing Asahi towards the door, "You're the scariest, Asahi! You go in first!"

"Why me?!" Asahi looks at everyone else in despair, but they're all nodding. And they're smiling. Um.

Asahi sighs, takes a deep breath, and walks in.

Everyone waits.

They promtly hear another squeal.

Then the door swings open, and out pops a way too cheerful, still shirtless, Tanaka. "COME AND SEE!" his eyes are sparkling, SPARKLING, "THERE'S A **CUTE**-" He's cut off by Nishinoya barging past him into the changeroom, squealing in delight.

"Put your shirt back on," says Ennoshita, before going in with everyone else.

Kageyama's eye twitches when he sees his jacket lying on the floor, all rumpled up. _Excuse me, I did not put it like that._ Then his eyes widen and _shit_ _his heart did not just speed up for an orange flipping kitten. _ The orange kitten was currently on the floor, gobbling up Tanaka's bag of cookies.

It did not speed up.

It totally did not.

Kageyama is slightly uneasy when he feels Sugawara's eyes on him. He gives a sigh of relief when Suga looks away. _Thank you. _ Then he stiffens again when he feels another pair of eyes bore into his back. His face contorts into _scary-face-number-two_ because he knows it's Tsukishima and _damn that guy will not keep his mouth shut_-

There's a terrified squeal from the kitten. "Kageyama!" Nishinoya yells, "Quit frowning! You're scaring the cute thing!"

_I...what? _

"Aww, kitty, don't worry, me and Asahi and Tanaka will keep you safe from Scary Dude, okay?" Nishinoya picks it up and cuddles it. Kageyama's eye twitches. Since when did he become Scary Dude? "C'mon, Asahi, touch it! It's sooo soft!"

Kageyama's eyes follow Asahi as he reaches out tentatively and pets the kitten on the head. The kitten's ear flicks, causing several coos in the volleyball players. Then Tanaka jumps in and tickles the kitten under it's chin. It's whiskers twitch before letting out a purr.

Tanaka's face looks like he's won the lottery or something.

Kageyama's hands are suddenly itching to reach out and pull the kitten close to his own chest. He wanted to say "Mine." His fingers want to rub the kitten's belly and-

_What was he even thinking. _ That kitten was not his. Not his at all.

So instead, he turns his back to the not adorable kitten and changes back into his uniform. He zipps up his jacket, re-organizes his bag-how did his waterbottle end up under his extra pair of socks, anyways?-and joins the others as they head outside.

(^^^)

"Suga, I'm begging you!" Tanaka says, clinging to the hem of Sugawara's shirt. The Karasuno volleyball team is outside, on their way to Ukai's shop. Nishinoya is, secretly to Kageyama's annoyance, cuddling the orange little furball in his arms. Daichi had set his foot down when they suggested bringing the kitten along with them.

"Tanaka..." Suga trails off, torn between the _No_ on Daichi's face and the imploring faces of (most) of his teammates.

"Suga-_kaasan_, how can you say no to this face?" Nishinoya wails, shoving the kitten at him. Suga wavers, torn between the amber eyes looking innocently up at him and Daichi... "Even...um...EVEN ASAHI THINKS WE SHOULD BRING KITTY ALONG, RIGHT?!" Asahi nods nervously. Nishinoya laughs, spins around, and dumps the kitty into Asahi's arms.

Asahi blushes happily, petting the kitten awkwardly. The kitten's ear twitches, and the third years in the background nod when Suga looks at them.

"You! First years!" Tanaka shouts, "You want the kitty to come with us and get meatbuns, don't you?!"

Tsukishima pauses, eyeing the amber eyes that shine with excitement at the word "meatbuns". What he really wanted right now, Tsukishima decided, is to know how a cat, especially one of that puny size, managed to get into the changeroom. His eyes drift to Kageyama, the only one not participating in...whatever this is callled. Kageyama's standing off to the side, pocketing his phone and glaring at something on the ground. Hm... Unless...it couldn't be... Tsukishima does a once-over of him, and smirks when he sees the tuft of orange fur stuck to the Karasuno setter's jacket collar. Heh, who'd have guessed.

"Tsukki? What is-" Yamaguchi's eyes widen as he follows Tsukishima's gaze to where oh. Oh.

Tsukishima pushes up his glasses and says, "Of course, Tanaka-senpai. Yamaguchi and I would be delighted to have the thing come with us." Yamaguchi nods.

"YAY!" Nishinoya's smile widens even more, and he snatches the kitten back from Asahi.

Nishinoya bounces over to Kageyama, thrusting the kitten into the setter's face. Kageyama's eyes wide, and his breath hitches. Suddenly he's staring, staring, staring, into a pair of amber eyes that stare back. _They look just like Hinata's...oh shit..._

"Kageyama! Oi!" Nishinoya says, "Don't you think the kitten's cute?"

Kageyama splutters, instantly looking away, "No."

"Eh?" Nishinoya's eyes are wide, "LOOK CLOSELY, KAGEYAMA!" The kitten is thrusted at the setter's face again, who stumbles a few steps back.

"It. Is. Not. Cute."

Sugawara wasn't sure if Kageyama was trying to convince himself that, or Nishinoya.

Daichi sighs, rubbing his forehead. Suga smiles when Daichi meets his eyes, and points with his chin to Kageyama. Kageyama's jacket collar, to be precise. Daichii looks confused, then he sees it. And smiles. Well, if the kitten was Kageyama's, they certainly couldn't leave it there, could they?

(^^^)

_Meatbuns!_ were the only thing on Hinata's mind right now. _Meatbuns! Wow! Finally!_ Especially after sleeping through breakfast and lunch-hey, who knew walking downhill instead of biking, would be so exhausting?

Tsukishima is smirking the whole way there, with Yamaguchi beside him. Suga and Daichii exchange knowing glances as they see Kageyama off to the side, while Tanaka and crew try to coax the kitten into eating a piece of their shrimp-filled meatbun.

Kageyama's holding a bag of meatbuns with BBQ pork filling. He had forgotten Hinata wasn't here, and had bought too much, because the dumbass loved them. He sighed, eyeing the bag, what was he going to do with this? Kageyama pulls out his phone and checks it yet again, the third time this afternoon. Nope. Still no texts from Hinata. _Where was the dumbass?_

"Eh? Look!" Tanaka says excitedly. Nishinoya, Asahi, and the other third years quiet down. They watch intently as the kitten's whiskers twitched, and its ear started to flick around excitedly. The kitten gets up, and jumps off the table. Their eyes all widen as they see the kitten scamper over to where Kageyama's standing, and rubs Kageyama's ankle with its flank.

"Mrraow."

Kageyama stiffens, and looks down. _What do you want. You stupid. Cute. Hinata-resembling. Woah. Way too wordy there._

"Mrraoow."

"What," Kageyama says, bending down. The kitten's ear flicks faster. The kitten goes onto its hindlegs and headbuts the bag of meatbuns in Kageyama's hand. It lands on all fours, and looks up at Kageyama expectantly.

"Mrraooow."

"..." Kageyama reaches into the bag, and pulls out a meatbun. The kitten instantly jumps into his lap and attacks the meatbun. Kageyama blinks, and the meatbun is gone. The others stare incredously as Kageyama pulls out another meatbun without being asked, Kageyama's scowl softening for the first time this afternoon. The kitten's ear flicks before it dives at Kageyama's hand again.

Suga's muffling a chuckle behind his hand, as he watches the interaction.

(^^^)

"Make sure you guys eat a proper supper at home!" Coach Ukai says, as they bow, "Don't forget our practice match with Nekoma on Sunday!"

Kageyama swings the strap of his sports bag onto his shoulders with everyone else, and gets ready to leave. He glances at the sleeping kitten on the table, hesitates, then walks to the door.

"Aren't you going to take responsability for your kitten, King?" Tsukishima calls out after him.

"It's not my kitten."

Yet somehow the players manage to dump the sleeping kitten into Kageyama's arms anyways. So Kageyama ends up taking the orange furball home.

The house is quiet, with his father away on a business trip and his mom coming home late. Kageyama closes the door to his room, and sets the kitten gingerly on the edge of his bed. He dumps his bag on the floor, and opens his closet and looks through it, trying to find a small blanket that could serve as a makeshift nest. No such luck.

He'll have to ask his mom for something in the morning, Kageyama decides. But for now, he was tired, and a nap started to sound like a really good idea. He changes out of his school clothes before plopping down on the other side of the bed. He reaches for the phone, checking it one last time, hoping that maybe? Maybe Hinata texted him? But nope.

Kageyama sighs and sets the phone on his bedside table. He looks at the sleeping kitten, and his fingers reach out, brushing the fur on the kitten's face lightly. _Hinata..._

"You're not my kitten." _But I wouldn't mind if you were. mine.._

Then Kageyama's eyes close, and he finds himself wrapping an arm protectively around the orange furball.

...to be continued.

* * *

Long chapter to make up for the short one.

Actually, this chapter wasn't suppose to be this long. I don't know how it ended up this long.

Next update might take a while, just got physics culminating, and have some tests coming up. Also, some new episodes are coming out in March break so

I'll try my best :)

À plus tard!


	4. Chapter 4: I think I'm Going To Spam You

_Kageyama doesn't miss Hinata. No way. He's just denying it._

* * *

_No new texts from Hinata,_ is one of the first things Kageyama thinks of, after getting over his first 5 minutes of mal-functioning brain when he wakes up.

Maybe Hinata slept in or something. Then again, Hinata had plenty of time to text him yesterday. Plus, they had a morning practice today, so Hinata should be awake by now. Unless if...he was sick?

_6:00 am_

_To: Dumbass _

_What the hell is wrong with you._

_6:05 am_

_To: Dumbass_

_Answer me._

_6:09 am_

_To: Dumbass_

_Hello._

_We have morning practice._

_At 7:00. _

_As Usual._

_6:12 am_

_To: Dumbass_

_Are you even reading my texts?!_

Kageyama tries to wait. His eye twitches. Nope, not working.

_6:14 am_

_To: Dumbass_

_Hinata._

Kageyama's fingers itch to type more, but he knows he needs to give Hinata some time to reply. His fingers stray to the sidebar, and clicks on "Change Name". He literally types in the first thing that comes into mind, but of course, it's too long and exceeds the character limit.

_6:15 am_

_To: Dumbasswhosnotflippingansweringmytex_

_ANSWER_

_ME _

_ALREADY_

_WE HAVE A FLIPPING PRACTICE MATCH WITH NEKOMA SOON_

**_STOP SHITTING AROUND_**

**_SAY SOMETHING_**

So he tries to re-word Hinata's new name into something that fits but-

_6: 16 am_

_To: Dumbasswhatthehelliswrongwithyouwhya_

**_WHERE ARE U?_**

**_U GONNA SHOW UP FOR PRACTICE TODAY?_**

_6:17 am_

_To: Dumbasswhatthehelliswrongwithyouwhya_

**_HINATA_**

**_WHAT DID I EVER DO TO U_**

Other than, um, stealing his meatbuns once in a while-_ "It's payback", was Kageyama's unsympathetic reply. _Hmph.

_To: DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA_

_6:20 am_

_...What happened to "I'm here"?_

_Where are you?_

_Hinata_

_Fine, dumbass. I'll be waiting at practice. _

Kageyama throws down his phone in frustration, the blank screen filled with only his own text bubbles glaring right back at him, almost mockingly. Shit.

Kageyama sits back, and sighs. He tries to look at something else, anything other than his stupid phone. Hinata...was he really that mad at him for avoiding him the past few days? But then Hinata should be happy now then, since he...hm... His gaze drifts to the orange furball curled up on his sheets. The same colour as Hinata's hair..he missed petting it and ruffling it and feeling the soft strands brush his fingers...and Hinata was always so warm...

_"I'm here!" His wrist instantly flexes in Hinata's direction, his mind repeating 'drop the toss right there-' and the happiness that spreads through him when Hinata hits it dead on. The boom of the ball hitting the floor, the unique sound that can only mean it was their special special toss and- "I'm here!"_

No, you're not. Kageyama drops his chin onto his chest, telling himself that, no, he doesn't miss Hinata because shit it's only been a flipping day, so no he won't be dying with Hinata not being here and not talking or responding to him in any way possible-

Orange. Kageyama's eyes snap right open, before dilating when he realized that oops that was just the stupid furball still sleeping on his bed. How often are cats suppose to sleep, anyways?

(^^^)

The slightly ajar door to his parents' private study, and the dim light, indicates so ever slightly that his mum had came home.

"Kaa-san," Kageyama says from the doorway, "Um..." Suddenly he feels really embarrassed. Stupid kitten.

His mother seemed to notice a shift in his normal mood and turns, giving him one of the rare moments where he has her full attention, "Tobio? Don't you have volleyball practice soon?"

"Um...where are the spare blankets?"

His mother is estatic, "Did Tobio invite someone over last night?"

"Um, not exactly."

His mother waits.

"Um.." Kageyama hesitates again, trying to think of how to say he just... "There's a kitten!" He blurts out.

"Tobio, a kitten?"

Kageyama nods. He tugs at his bangs, "Do we have any spare blankets for..um..to make it a bed..or something..." What did kittens sleep on? The word "bed" didn't sound right...but it did start with a "b", didn't it? What was it called?

"Hm," his mother swivels around in her chair, turning to fully face him, "I think we have a basket...Check the drawer by the washing machine. Everything's there."

"Ok," Kageyama nods, "Thank you." He turns and closes the door behind him-

"Oh, Tobio?" his mother says. He stops, looking back. His mother gives him a soft smile, "Taking a care of a kitten is a lot of work, honey. Are you sure you're up to it?"

_It won't be hard. I'll just...pretend it's Hinata,_ Kageyama thinks, looking down at the floor.

His mother's smile widens just a bit, "Take good care of it then, Tobio. Kittens may be a handful, but they also have a large love capacity." Kageyama nods, closing the door behind him. His mother did not miss the happy look on her son's face.

(^^^)

Kageyama looks at the heaps of blankets in his arms, then at his bedroom door. _Why am I doing this?!_ He sighs, tucks the blankets under his chin, and opens the door with his free hand. The hinges make a slight squeaking sound, and an orange ear flicks. Kageyama freezes, watching as the kitten raise its tail sleepily before wrapping it around its paws again. He walks over and carefully drapes the blankets, one by one, over the orange furball.

Kageyama looks back, admiring his handiwork. His eye twitches in annoyance when he realizes that, _Tch, this just looks like a flipping fort_. He bends over to rearrange the covers into something more presentable, when he sees the clock hands from the corner of his eye. Twenty minutes until seven. Shit. He was going to be late.

_Screw the fort. _ He grabs his sports bag and run down the stairs, before running back up for his Karasuno jacket. Twenty minutes, twenty minutes, this is not enough time. Shit, the captain is going to be mad… Kageyama leaves like a bolt of lightning, the front door closing with a bang.

"Tobio!" his mother sighs when she sees her son already outside, running like the wind. A few rooms down, the kitten is blinking open his eyes sleepily, woken up by the sudden torrent of noises.

"Meow?"

His mother stops typing. …_Was that?_

"Mrraow," the kitten says, louder this time. He looks around slowly, trying to figure out where he was. Soft. He rolls over onto his back, rubbing his fur against the soft blankets that was under him. Ooh, they kind of smelled like Kageyama. The kitten flips onto his belly, burying his face into it, trying to savour the light scent of Kageyama. His tail swishes around happily, and he automatically lets out a soft purr. Then he coughs, _oops, furball._ His paws itch to sink into the warm covers, but he tries to remember Kageyama's death scowl, which stops him.

Kageyama's mother walks into the room to see a very messy mountain of blankets, something squirming inside of it, _and was that a furball?_ She sighed, "Oh Tobio…"

(^^^)

"The key to all this is remembering the quadratic formula. Using that, arrange the equations into the 0= ax2+bx+c, then substitute…"

Kageyama is currently glaring at the blackboard, only comprehending 25% of what his teacher is saying, instead of the usual 60%. This may or may not be due to his thoughts drifting from the light smudge of chalk on the side of the blackboard to the number of times the volleyball had not gone where it was suppose to during morning practice.

_Was he sick? …No, he didn't get sick. _Kageyama Tobio, sick? That was funny. …Maybe he ought to go back to practicing with water bottles—that never went wrong before. He could imagine that each one of them was Hinata, and practice his drop tosses. His accuracy was still lacking, but **HINATA WAS FLIPPING M.I.A. SO HOW WERE THEY SUPPOSE TO PRACTICE?! **

His eyebrows instantly pulled into a frown, and his usual_ don't-disturb-me_ face turned into _ok-I'm-pissed-off_ face. Kageyama gave himself a mental pat on the back.

Yes, that was right; this had to be Hinata's fault. The flipping dumbass; not showing up for practice. The one time where Kageyama actually wanted Hinata to be there, Hinata wasn't. Kageyama looks up at his teacher, then stealthily pulled out his phone. His _ok-I'm-pissed-off _face upgraded into his_ I'm-flipping-pissed-off_ face after he saw _No new messages from DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA._

Well then. When that Dumbass showed up, he was going to pound that shithead into dust. Wait, no, that wasn't correct. Powder, because dust mainly consisted of—

"Ah, Kageyama-kun?" Kageyama looks up at his teacher. His teacher jumps a little at his expression, "The answer to my question?"

_Uh…_ Kageyama looks at the blackboard, but all the numbers end up looking like Hinata's different facial expressions and the x's turn into the targets that he would punch when Hinata comes back.

_Hinata Shouyou_, he wants to blurt out, but stops himself. There was no way that could be the answer. No flipping way. Right?

Well, his teacher probably wanted a number so…_ I need a number, just a number,_ Kageyama thinks, and his thoughts drift to Hinata's volleyball jersey number: 10. Then his own: 9. Kageyama and Hinata together would make 19. That sounded about right.

"Kageyama-kun?"

"Nineteen," Kageyama blurts out, and then blinks. _What did he just say?!_

"Hm, very good," his teacher looks pleased, and continues on with the lesson.

Lunch comes around soon enough, and Kageyama finds himself, for the second time in a long time, sitting alone. Well, yesterday had been easier since he had been too focused on avoiding Hinata. But today, all he could think of was Hinata not being here. And the empty space beside him.

"Kawaii!" Suddenly all the girls are squealing at something by the window. The noise level gives him a headache as he instantly starts comparing Hinata's high-pitched squeal to theirs. Kageyama leaves the classroom and goes to his usual lunch spot. Hinata isn't there. He's probably sick today, too. If that was the case, and Hinata's not answering the phone, Hinata must be really sick. Like as in really, really sick.

Really, really, really sick. Which meant Hinata might not be there for Sunday's practice match with Nekoma; which wouldn't be good. Kageyama groaned; his performance had been off again this morning. _How in the world am I suppose to last two more days playing volleyball without Hinata?! _

Not that he depended on Hinata. No way. Damn it. Never in a million years. He did NOT depend on—

"Uggh," Kageyama puts his hand to his face, and ripps off the soft thing that had been—Hah?!

Orange kitty meowed excitedly, his paws failing as Kageyama dangled him in the air, _Kageyama! Yay! I finally found you!_ "Meow, mrraow, meeeeeoow!"

"**What. The. HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, DUMBASS?!**"

The kitten lets out a yelp, and its orange fur sticks up everywhere.

The kitten squirms in Kageyama's grasp, resulting in Kageyama tightening his grip. Kageyama growls, and shoves his lunch from his lap. He brings the kitten close to his face, and takes a deep breath to calm down. "Don't you ever do that again-" Kageyama stops, suddenly realizing how similar the kitten's eyes were with Hinata's. Amber…

Kageyama isn't so angry anymore, the kitten decides, seeing Kageyama continue to stare at him. So he lifts his chin up, his whiskers quivering indignantly. _ Stupid Kageyama, lecturing me. Do you even know how much time I spent looking for you?! I got molested by a bunch of girls giggling about how tiny I am and I couldn't even get away until Suga-san showed up to talk to one of them! _

_Uh…_Was the kitten disagreeing with him? What the hell. Kageyama twirls his index finger back at it, "If you're so intelligent, you should've **KNOWN BETTER** than to jump on people's faces."

The kitten swipes at Kageyama, "Tchi, tchhi. Khhh. Tchii. " Well then, maybe you shouldn't have been staring into space, **STUPID KAGEYAMA**.

Kageyama's about to reply, then realizes how weird it must look to be talking to a flipping orange furball, and opts to take a drink from his milk box instead, "…How'd you even get here?"

But it's too late, as the kitten is already distracted by the zipper on Kageyama's Karasuno jacket. He nudges it with his nose, then jumps back at the sudden coldness, then nudges it again. He starts batting it, balancing himself by placing his hindlegs on Kageyama's thigh and front paws resting on Kageyama's abdomen.

"Oi, stop that!"

The kitten looks up, and, deeming Kageyama's face not scary enough yet, goes back to batting and nudging it again. The kitten lets out a happy trill when the zipper moves. Then it goes back to furiously batting it again.

Kageyama gives up, and eats his lunch instead. He looks at the kitten, currently playing in his lap. This was going to be a _long_ day.

(^^^)

The kitten actually sleeps in Kageyama's bag all afternoon, without a fuss. Kageyama lets out a sigh of relief when the last bell rang. Not getting called out by the teachers for keeping a cat in his bag was one small victory for Kageyama. It was a start. He transferrs the sleeping orange ball to his sports bag, and zips it close.

Kageyama opens the gymnasium's door, unconscious of arriving at the same time as Hinata would usually arrive. Usually, because Hinata wasn't here. No surprise; afterall, Hinata didn't show up for lunch.

"KA-GE-YA-MA~" Tanaka and Nishinoya sing out as soon as he steps into the changeroom, "Did you bring your-"

"No," Kageyama deadpans, and turns back to changing. He unzips his sports bag, and pulls out his jersey, ignoring the groans of his two senpais.

"Did you cuddle in that jersey last night, Your Majesty?"

Kageyama's eyes widen at Tsukishima's greeting. _Cuddle?_ "Of course not-" He follows Tsukishima's gaze to an orange balls of fur clinging to the end of the curve of "9", and his collar. Oh. He scowls.

"Guys, Daichi's waiting outside for-" Suga breaks off, also noticing the tuffs of orange kitty fur that Karasuno's second setter was furiously picking off, "Oh, Kageyama, is the orange kitten here?"

Urk. Kageyama can't meet the eyes of Suga, and looks at the floor instead, "No-" Tanaka and Nishinoya squeal behind him as the flap of his sports bag shifts and an orange ear peaks out. Tsukishima's laughing in the corner. Tch. The kitten's head appears next, then it crawls out and leaps to the ground. Kageyama's scowl is now directed at it, instead of Tsukishima. Traitor.

Kageyama closes his eyes and counts to five.

_One._

_Two. _

_Three._

_Four._

_Five._

Bingo, the cooing starts. And the dumbass kitten is practically basking in the attention.

But with the kitten there, sitting on the bench, kept company by Sugawara, Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Asahi, Kageyama's serves regain some of its usual pow. Everytime Kageyama tosses to someone, the kitten is meowing and someone has to keep it from pouncing onto the volleyball court.

"Eh!" Tanaka and Nishinoya's eyes practically have stars in them, "Orange kitty must really love Kageyama, then!"

And for some reason, at this practice, Kageyama's tosses regained most of its accuracy. Except for the times the kitten screeches too loud and he claps his hand over his ears, the volleyball successfully dropping onto his head instead. _Dumbass kitten._

(^^^)

"WAH WHOO!"

Sugawara slows down his pace, dropping to the back of the Karasuno group leaving Ukai's shop. The rowdy bunch at the front are tossing up the kitten, not yet ready to say goodbye. The others as well as Tsukishima with his headphones in are walking in the middle, chatting. Sugawara meets Daichi's eyes, then gestures to frowny Kageyama, who was walking a few steps behind all of them. Kageyama was quieter than usual, without Hinata there to fire him up about random stuff.

_He hasn't been playing very well these past few days,_ Daichi's face reads, _This isn't good._

_Yeah_, Suga nods.

_Who knew Hinata had that big of an influence on him?_ Daichi smiles, _We're going to be in trouble of Hinata doesn't come back soon._

Suga's eyes turns grave, _Hinata hasn't been here for the past two days. He must be really sick. There's no guarantee that he'll be back in time for Sunday's practice. _

_Which means Kageyama will be even more aggravated..._

Both of them glance at Kageyama, who was still glaring at the ground, tracing imaginary lines with his eyes.

_We're all gonna die if Hinata doesn't show up soon._

_But Kageyama was better today with the kitten here at practice,_ Suga gives Daichi a hopeful look.

_Yes but.._ Daichi looks at the orange kitten, currently squealing excitedly in midair, _If I didn't know better, I would say that Hinata ate a weird meatbun and turned into that thing instead..._

_I'll talk to him,_ Suga promises.

_I'll leave it to you, then. Thanks._

Kageyama is only midly aware of the frown fixed on his face. "If you keep doing that, you're face will end up like that permanantly," is probably what Hinata would say. The kitten would probably jump on him or something. Speaking of which, maybe it wasn't a good idea to let the kitten sleep so much. The orange furball had been way too energetic during afternoon practice. His tosses were off again today-not as bad as yesterday, but still.

Hinata...Shouyou...Dumbass... Kageyama tries to discreetly check his phone. _No new messages from_ _DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA. ..._

"Ah, Kageyama?"

Kageyama looks up, and tries to change his I-am-pissed-off face to a more neutral expression, "Sugawara-san?" Whoops, no luck there.

Sugawara notices Kageyama's effort, though, "Is something bothering you?"

"No..not really."

Sugawara pauses, wondering if he should pursue this or not. Well, Karasuno was counting on him to cheer up their setter, without Hinata there, "It's Hinata, isn't it?"

Kageyama's eyes widen, and he freezes.

"I'm sure there's a good reason he's not here," says Sugawara kindly. Suga pauses, then chuckles, "He wouldn't miss your tosses for anything, you know."

"I-" what? Kageyama feels something clench in his chest when he thinks about the special whoosh sound his drop-toss for Hinata makes, and the happy smile that Hinata has whenever he spikes it. The others are now out of earshot, somewhere near the intersection where they would all split up and go their separate ways. "I miss him," Kageyama blurts out, hands clenched tightly into fists, "I...I was trying to avoid him for the last few days and got irritated whenever he'd tag along anyways but now I-" Kageyama bites his lip, "I don't know what to do."

"Kageyama," Sugawara says quietly, "What are you afraid of?"

Kageyama is now wearing his _question mark_ face.

"I mean," Sugawara hurries to clarify, "It's obvious you like Hinata."

_Obvious. Urk._

"But you said you were avoiding him?"

"...Yeah."

"Does it feel natural to do that?"

"..No," Kageyama whispers, "But...what if he doesn't reciprocate my feelings? I don't...I don't know if a cute dumbass like that would feel the same thing for me..."

_Cute?_ Suga smiled to himself, _Well, Kageyama must be pretty deep then, whether he realizes this or not_, "My advice would be, then, to follow your instincts. You have pretty good instincts, especially concerning volleyball."

_My..instincts?_ "Oh, okay," Kageyama says, "Thank you, Sugawara-san. I have the utmost confidence in you."

_Eh? You do? Ah well, that's good then. _ Sugawara lets out a sigh, and he sees Daichi give him a thumbs up from the intersection. _Oops, Daichi's still waiting for him, isn't he?_ "Oh, and Kageyama?"

Kageyama looks up.

"If you decide to visit Hinata tomorrow, just let us know you won't be coming to practice, okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

"How long are you going to keep this thing waiting, King?"

"Shut up!" The kitten runs over and jumps, landing neatly into Kageyama's arms.

_It has Hinata's jumping abilities as well..._ Sugawara and Daichi sweatdrop.

It's not until later, when Kageyama closes his bedroom door and dumps the kitten on the ground, that he grasps the last thing Sugawara said to him. _Visit Hinata? No way._

_...It wasn't that bad of an idea..._

_...Was Hinata even home?_

"Meow," the kitten says from the ground, _Play with me._

Kageyama ignores it, and wordlessly changes into his houseclothes. He picks up the volleyball and his vision is suddenly filled with orange. Too much orange. "Oi-"

The kitten, "Tri, Trrrh, Kuh!" _Come on, Kageyama!_

Kageyama scowls. Kageyama is scowling a lot today.

The kitten jumps at the ball, but Kageyama holds it well out of reach.

"Stay there," Kageyama points to the basket-shaped blankets at the foot of his bed. _Mom must've tidied the fort when I left_. The kitten glares at him, and he glares back. After a few minutes, the kitten seems to pout, and crawls reluctantly to its "basket". Kageyama watches it settle down, then, finally satisfied, picks up the volleyball and lies down on his bed.

The kitten's tail twitches with anticipation. His amber eyes follow the slender fingers that he knows too well, to the face Kageyama always makes when he's in deep concentration.

_One._

The kitten follows the ball as it flies up, then drops back down to Kageyama's positioned hands.

_Two._

The kitten's tail twitches again.

_Three._

The ball was right there and he was right there and

_Four._

It's been almost 48 hours since I've hit one of your tosses Kageyama I'm gonna die

_Five_

I'm here~

Kageyama starts when the ball doesn't fall back down to his palms. There's a blurr of orange, than a _whump!_ followed by the ball and kitten landing on the floor. Kageyama sits up and eyes the kitten, sprawled next to the volleyball, suspiciously. _Had it been his imagination, or had the orange furball been trying to spike it?_

The kitten layed on the floor, his nose slightly stinging from the impact. The scene replayed before its eyes. He instantly sprung up, his hindlegs acting of their own accord. He does a good run-up, then pushes up with as much force as possible to counter gravity. He's sailing and suddenly the ball looks half his size and his right paw hits it, and, due to momentum, his body follows in this motion and WHAM. He...failed miserably at spiking this toss. _But..._

Kageyama watched in disbelief as the kitten springs back onto his paws, its amber eyes shining. It meows, as if saying One more time. "Tsk, what the hell," Kageyama mutters under his breath.

The kitten's eyes widen and its tail fluffs up happily when he sees the small smile form on Kageyama's face. This was the first time Hinata had seen him smile all day. Kageyama! He let out a purr, then another, then jumps into Kageyama's lap and starts nuzzling Kageyama's abdomen with his head. He purrs contently as Kageyama's hands wrap around his torso, trying to pry him off.

"Oi, **stop that,** **you dumbass, OI-**" Kageyama doubles over, letting out a stream of laughter.

Hinata doesn't stop tickling until he sees that Kageyama's gasping and _yep he looks really out of breath_.

When Kageyama stops, his _I-am-concentrating-on-volleyball_ face changes to his _what-the-hell-you-dumbass_ face.

Oops. But Hinata can't help but flick his tail joyfully, savouring Kageyama's laugh.

Amber eyes bore into midnight blue ones, and Kageyama can't bring himself to actually get mad when the kitten is practically yeowling:

_Toss to me, Kageyama! Toss to me, again!_

_This was ridiculous, tossing to a flipping orange furball. But Sugawara-san had told him to follow his instincts. _ Kageyama picks up the volleyball, "Fine. Let's go outside."

The kitten lets out a happy meow and follows him out the door.

(^^^)

The moonlight shines in through the window, casting oddly-shaped shadows on the wall. The kitten's eyes are sleepily closing when he hears a groan from the bed a few feet away. Then a clatter as something is placed on the bedside table.

Kageyama is not suppose to be sad, Hinata thinks, not after tossing to me for so long.

He is not allowed to be sad.

Hinata hacks out a hairball before jumping onto Kageyama's bed. He pads silently over and onto Kageyama's chest, where he curls up into a ball. He feels Kageyama's muscles bunch together in surprise, and Kageyama sputter in surprise. He buries his head into the crevice between Kageyama's neck and shoulders. Kageyama quiets down, and slowly puts an arm around him.

Good.

Hinata closes his eyes again and slowly falls asleep, listening to the steady beating of the heart a few inches from his own.

..to be continued.

* * *

They fall asleep cuddling how is this not cute

Did you guys watch the Nekoma OVA?  
Hinata + video games = laughter  
Kageyama + video games = intense failing battle  
Hinata + Kageyama + video games = ? I was hoping they'd show this part :(

I want to fangirl over the latest manga chapter but I don't want to put spoilers in here, so~

Apologies for the long wait...

C`est finalement printemps! (Unless if you're in Australia, in which *eep* you're so lucky because RIN MATSUOKA-ok I'll stick with Haikyuu stuff)

Until next time everyone, and thanks for all the comments! They motivate me because I know you know that I know you're enjoying the story :)


	5. Chapter 5: Just keep spamming

_In which Kageyama's instincts tell him to keep spamming Hinata, until Hinata replies. And then he finally realizes. _

_Finally._

_Just how dense can that guy be? _

* * *

_Beep._ Kageyama's eyebrow twitches in his sleep. _Beep._ Kageyama groans, wondering what the hell was going on. Something heavy and warm was lying on his stomach, and it was..._furry? What?_ **_Beep._** _Five minutes,_ Kageyama thinks, mentally communicating with the beeping, _shut up five minutes and I'll figure out what the hell is going on-_

**_Beep._ **

Kageyama's eyes snap open and he lunges for his bedside table, the warm and furry thing sliding off with soft thump. **_Beep._ **_A new text message?_ He snatches up his phone, and unlocks it, eyes scanning the screen. _What. _

_No new texts from DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA._

_What the hell?!_ Kageyama is 0.68 seconds away from flinging his phone out his (open) window. _The beeping...was...not Hinata texting him._ **_Beep._** _Hm...maybe Hinata was sick and dropped his phone into the toilet._ **_Beep._ **_Or maybe Hinata finally hit his head hard enough and lost his memory and now he doesn't know where his phone is. **Beep.** Maybe Hinata was currently in Nebraska because someone saw his amazing jumping skills and fast reflexes, and kidnapped him for their basketball team. How dare they. **Beep.** Maybe Hinata went to see the new Avengers movie and decided he wanted to be an Avenger instead of my spiker. Wait, what am I saying? Hinata is definitely NOT my spiker. No way. Nope. _

_**Beep.** Okay, maybe Hinata sensed the fluttery feelings I get now and it became contagious he got it too and now he's avoiding me and everyone else is just trying to be nice and say he's sick and then he flew off on a plane- **Beep.** -and he found a better setter than me and doesn't want to hit my tosses anymore- Beep. ...okay then...now I'm just being insecure...where is my pre-installed defense? Oh wait, here it is- **Beep.** HOW DARE THAT DUMBASS GO AND FIND ANOTHER SETTER I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN HINATA SHOUYOU AND FLIPPING SET BALLS TO YOUR FACE WHEN I FIND YOU **Beep.** I'M GONNA HUNT YOU DOWN, I'M GONNA..._Kageyama starts, realizing his fingers had automatically moved to the speed dial button, and had pressed** CALL**. _...call you?_

Kageyama clutches his phone tightly, waiting for the line to connect. **_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring._** His eyes narrow in anticipation, waiting, just waiting to hear Hinata's voice answer-

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._** _Please leave a message after the-_

Kageyama's eyes go out of focus, and his phone slips out of his hands, onto the bed. _**Beep.**_

_Probably playing volleyball...huh. Tch,_ Kageyama picks up the phone, and tries again.

_**Beep.**_ Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

_What._

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

_Hinata._

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

_Pick up the phone._

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

_PICK UP THE PHONE._

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

_PICK UP THE PHONE, DUMBASS-_

**_Beep._** Hey, you've reached me! I'm not here right now...I'm probably playing volleyball, so call back later! Or text me! **_Beep._**

"ARGH!" he growls, and throws the phone at the wall. Its rubber case bounces off the walls, and it lands on the floor, miraculously unharmed. **_Beep._** Kageyama whips his head around, and finally sees the perpetrator of all this. **_Beep._**

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU MORON!" he yells, slamming his fist on his ridiculously yellow alarm clock. _...It should've been orange. _

_You shut up too. _

_Was Hinata...purposely not responding?_

Kageyama looks around the room, gaze falling onto his volleyball. He sighs, and gets up to get it. He lies back down on the bed, and raises it up, to resume his independant practice that had been interrupted yesterday.

His eyes fix onto the faded grass stains on the volleyball, and he gives it a powerful thrust. _Where are you, Hinata? Volleyball isn't as fun without you...and...I kind of miss...the way my heart pounds out of control when you're here..._

_'Sooner or later_

_I swear_

_We'll make it there_

_Sooner or later'-Mat Kearney_

His wrist flicks too fast on the next one, and the ball goes astray.

Kageyama jumps at the screeching sound that's emitted as the ball lands beside him. He blinks, and suddenly a very angry pair of amber eyes are inches away from his own.

"MREOW! KCHHH!?" _What the hell, Kageyama?! _

"...?" Kageyama cocks his head to one side. _...Ah, that's right, there was an orange kitty living here...from almost 48 hours ago...or something like that?_

"Mrrraow grrrr chttt nnnnnmgrrrh" _Can't you wake people up like a normal person?!_

"...Uh..." Kageyama sighs, picks up his volleyball, and resumes his practice. _Toss. Up. Fall._ _Toss-_

_Hey! ...HEY!_

Kageyama starts when four paws land hard on his stomach. The volleyball free-falls, smacking him in the face. HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD.

_Listen to me when I'm talking to you, Baka-yama!_

Kageyama isn't listening though. He's coughing, trying to catch his breath. The kitten opens his mouth to meowl, but freezes when he sees Kageyama's scary face. Then crings as Kageyama leans closer, amber eyes flicking back and forth between the narrowed eyes and the clenched fist. Kageyama leans closer, and notices that _Wow those eyes look really familiar_ but o_hshitdon'tthinkaboutHinatanow_ and his stare intensifies as he feels a slight _**doki,doki** _in his chest.

_Um...Kageyama...pleasedon'thitmeohmygoddoyouknow-_

Something cold trickles down the left side of Kageyama's nose, and there's the faint smell of rust.

_-KAGEYAMAYOU'REBLEEDING?_ The kitten instantly jumps him, causing him to land flat on his back once more. _KAGEYAMA-_

"I know," Kageyama shoves the kitten off, holds his nose with one hand, and stumbles out of the room. He pauses at the doorway, and gestures for the kitten to _Stay there_, and _Don't touch anything_. He closes his bedroom door behind him.

(^^^)

Hinata is trying to stay still, because Kageyama had said _Stay there_, and he's trying to fight his urge to not touch anthing because _Don't touch anything_ but Kageyama still wasn't back yet and _Hey the volleyball doesn't have a bloodstain on it so maybe Kageyama won't be too mad_ but _Crap I gave Kageyama a bloody nose and-_

The door opens with a squeak of the hinges, and Hinata is at Kageyama's feet in an instant. He brushs Kageyama's calf with his flank, meowing _Are you okay? Did the bleeding stop? _His only response is a rough pat on the head, and a gruff, "I'm fine."

Hinata isn't 100% satisfied with this, but sits down obediently on the floor when Kageyama orders him to, because he felt slightly bad. He examines, from afar, the newly dried blood around Kageyama's nose.

Kageyama sits down on the foot of the bed, and picks up his phone lying facedown on the floor. How it got there, was a mystery for Hinata. Wasn't it on the table last night, when he crawled into Kageyama's blankets? Oh well. Hinata's ear flicks when he takes in Kageyama's perfectly impassive face.

Kageyama was not okay, Hinata decided.

He was totally going to find out why.

Hinata's ears flicker again when he sees Kageyama's mask slip, as Kageyama checks his phone.

_Who is he texting?_

_That person was going to pay, for making his setter so unhappy._

He watches as Kageyama closes his eyes, and taps something onto the screen._ They were totally going to pay._

* * *

_..._

_..._

..."...Meow," Hinata is quickly losing interest while Kageyama continues to stare at his phone _...Kageyama, play with me. _

_..._

_Did that guy not hear him? "_Meow." _Play with me._

Still no response, except the tapping sound of Kageyama's thumb on the screen.

"Meow, Ktchh!" _Play with me,_ _Kageyama!_ Hinata launches himself into Kageyama's lap, but gets shoved on to the floor. Hinata contemplates trying again, but his facial expression was too...dispondent and he shoved him away so maybe he wanted some alone time? _Maybe...I could go home..and play on my phone. Great idea, Hinata!_ He sprang up on four paws, and mentally patted himself on the head, _I could go home and play games on my phone-oh._ He flops down on the floor, _ it's probably dead by now...I don't think I even charged it that night..._

He glances over to Kageyama, who was still tapping furiously at the screen. Hinata frowns, _Who was he_-

"GODAMNIT!" Kageyama shouts, startling him. He watches, frozen, as Kageyama spouted out a strand of curses.

_Kageyama must be really upset..._

Then his voice drops a few octaves, turning raspy, as he quietly says, "Dumbass Hinata, why are you not replying?"

Hinata blinks, Kageyama's words echoing inside his head. _'Dumbass Hinata'...'Dumbass Hinata'...'why are you not replying'...'Dumbass Hinata'...'why are you not replying'_ His breath hitches. _OEUAKDJXJIDIJWOJD ~_The gears in Hinata's brain clicked into place and started turning. _Kageyama had been...The one Kageyama was texting was...KAGEYAMA WAS TEXTING HIM~_

"KKtccchh, Mraooow!" Hinata squeals, launching himself into Kageyama's lap. His throat is vibrating and vibrating and, just, Kageyama~~~

Before Kageyama could react, he proceeds to rubbing himself all over him, leaving strands of orange hair on his shirt. He raises his head, and purrs, nudging the crevice between Kageyama's neck and jawline. _Kageyama~ Kageyama~_

"Oi! Stop-" Kageyama shoves away the paw Hinata accidentally plants on his mouth (or...maybe it wasn't much of an accident, but), "Stop that!" Kageyama turns back to his phone, blue eyes shifting back into a glaze. He promptly recieves a buffet of orange in his face. His eyebrow twitches in annoyance.

_One. _Orange fur is still occupying 99.9% of his field of vision.

_Two. _The fur smelled strangely familiar_-Nope, that doesn't make sense,scratch that._

_Three. _His eyebrow twitches again._ Was that fur he was tasting in his mouth?!_

"I TOLD YOU TO FLIPPING STOP THAT, DUMBASS!" he yells, shoving the kitten to the floor. It lands upright on his round volleyball, which rolls, and it falls headlong, landing onto its back.

_Huh...not all cats land on their feet when they fall,_ he muses, watching the kitten flick its ear, before flipping up onto its four paws. _I guess you learn something new everyday._ It lets out a high-pitched meow and launches itself at him again, paws outstretched. Kageyama sighs as it lands in his lap again. He pushes it off again, watching as it lands on the volleyball, falls headlong again, and landing onto its back. _Or maybe this one is just plain stupid._

_Kageyama~_ Hinata opens his eyes wide as he stares up into Kageyama's face, _this is the first time in my whole life where you texted me first! This is a very important milestone!"_ He jumps, landing in Kageyama's lap again, his tail thumps happily on Kageyama's knee. Blue eyes stare back with uncertaincy.

_Uhm...what does it want...those amber eyes..just like Hinata's...so cute...shit did I just say it's cute..._

_Don't look at me like that, Baka-yama. This is a very important milestone!_ Hinata meows loudly. _No response._ He hooks his paw onto his shirt, and tugs it a few times,_ Bakageyama, listen to me!_ Still nothing. _BAKAGEYAMA, LISTEN TO ME!_

_Is it...what the...what does it want...I am not psychic...why do they teach us English? If I spoke cat language this would be so much easier...stupid teachers...stupid curriculum...stupid Hinata...HOLY CRAP, HOW DID I GET FROM CATS TO HINATA _and_ SHIT KITTY STOP TUGGING MY SHIRT-_

_I wonder what it would feel like if Hinata was tugging on my shirt..._

A sigh escapes Kageyama's lips, and Hinata stops. Amber eyes follow blue ones to Kageyama's phone, and Hinata squeals in delight. Oooh~

_Why isn't Hinata replying-HOLY SHIT NO KITTY NOT AGAIN-_

He jumps onto Kageyama's head, and buries his face into the locks, inhaling Kageyama's scent. His tail is thumping energetically again, although _no he's not a dog_, and _Kageyama you texted me I can't believe you texted me ugh I can't believe I can't reply to the ONE TIME you voluntarily texted me Kageyama~~~~WOOOOOOOOH~_

Kageyama freezes when he feels something soft and warm nuzzle into his hair. Gods that felt nice. _Nopethatdoesn'tfeelnicewhosaidthatnopenotmestupidkittenGETOFF. _

Hinata's nuzzling his face into the soft strands of black hair-midnight blue in the sun. Suddenly, fingers are patting the tip of his fur uncertainly. _Kageyama?_ Hinata sneeks a glance at Kageyama, who's looking intently at his orange fur. A warm feeling sparks in his tummy, and he gives Kageyama a nudge of encouragement. The fingers pause, and start threading slowly through his fur and the rumbling in his throat starts again._ They seem to gain confidence, and start travelling up to his ears, gently smoothening out his triangle ears. _

Hinata purrs, and flips onto his back, lifting his head for his chin to be rubbed. It takes a few seconds for his invitation to be understood. He purrs even louder when he sees a small smile creep onto Kageyama's face.

He can feel the strength of the same fingers that have sent him countless numbers of tosses, the same fingers that pinch straws into milkboxes, the very same fingers that hand him meatbuns and-

_Kageyama! _Hinata rolls off, landing on his paws this time, and stands up, front paws pressed against Kageyama's knees to keep his balance, _Kageyama, I want meatbuns! _

Amber eyes shine up at him, and Kageyama's own eyes widen, caught off guard.

_Meatbuns, Kageyama, **meatbuns**! Please?_ Hinata meows. Almost on cue, his stomach lets out a low rumble.

"..." Kageyama's staring at him intently, deep in thought. He stands up, and Hinata falls back on his four paws, "...I'll get you some milk, wait here."

Yay! He allows himself a purr of victory as he watches Kageyama's back dissappears, and the door close behind him. _Hold on, did he say milk?! NOOOOOOO_ Hinata lounges at the door, but it's closed now and he seriously can't turn the doornob with his stupid, stupid paws-_why is he a cat anyways?_

_That was a good question. _

_Why was he a cat?_

_...did he actually not question his physical state of being until now? _

_**Bzz. Bzz.** _Hinata snaps out of his thoughts, and looks over at Kageyama's phone that now has a green light lit up. He instantly scurries over and taps the screen with his paw, instincts telling him to _reply, reply already because someone just texted you and -_this wasn't his phone. M'kay, well, to be fair, Kageyama never told him he couldn't touch it, he just said to 'wait here' so _it's okay, right?_

_No it's not._ Oh well, Hinata stares quizzically at the lockscreen, showing nine dots._ This was...a puzzle? No, it must be something like...connect the dots. Okay, let's play connect the dots!_ He touches it with his nose, and randomly moves it around. Success. He drags his nose left, and taps the messages button.

_Ohh look Suga-senpai just texted Kageyama, what should he say?-_Then he looks down at the next tab and

_Heyyy look there are the messages Kageyama sent me!_ Open.

_'To: DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA'_

_WHAT THE HELL BAKA-YAMA, WHAT'S UP WITH THE WEIRD NAMES YOU GIVE ME?!_

_'...Should I be worried?'_

_'What the hell, I tried calling you but you didn't pick up. Everyone's been asking about you at practice'_

_'Where are you?'_

_'DUMBASS HINATA IF YOU SKIP PRACTICE ONE MORE TIME I SWEAR I WILL-'_

_'Fine Dumbass, I'll be waiting at practice'_

_'Hinata'_

_'Where are you?'_

_Kageyama...you're words seem to be kind of out of order from what you'd normally say.._Oh wait hang on he was reading it backwards, from most recent to least recent. His ears straighten when he hears the sound of Kageyama's footsteps at the bottom of the staires, and he looks back at the strand of green bubbles, remembering Kageyama's face.

Well then. He taps with his nose, careful not to press two buttons at once.

_Stupid, my phone died. Sorry._

He pressed send, and rubbed his nose. Gosh, that was harder than he imagined.

He turns and watches the door open, the hinges lightly squeaking. Kageyama crouches down and places a bowl of milk in front of him, and he realizes that Kageyama's shirt looks really good from this angle-Whoops where are my thoughts going? He stares at the bowl of milk for a few seconds, and looks up at Kageyama. _These are not meatbuns._ He studies the pair of blue eyes that look at his uncertainly, and wonders if Kageyama wishes to drink out of that bowl himself.

"It's for you, Dumbass," Kageyama says, looking away, hoping the kitten would _just_ _drink it already_.

"Meoww." _Meatbuns._ "Mrraoew, Kttch." _Kageyama, I want meatbuns._

"You can drink this."

"Meoww." _Meatbuns._

"...It's not poisoned."

"Meoww, Kttttchhh." _Meatbuns, Kageyama, I want meatbuns._

"..." Kageyama slowly picks up the bowl, while keeping his eyes trained on the meowling kitten. He brings it to his lips, takes a slow sip, and places it back down in front of the kitten, "See?"

"Meoww." _Meatbuns._ Hinata pointedly turns away from the bowl of milk, waiting, just waiting until _stupid Baka-yama_ understands.

_No way_. Kageyama stares at the orange furball's back, torn between frustration and disbelief.

_You've got to be flipping kidding me._ Telepathic communication with kitten through burning holes into their head, activate.

_I went downstairs to get milk for you. I came back upstairs with the milk. I went out of the way to actually pour it into a flipping bowl. I even drank it myself-milk tastes good, I need to drink it more often-Tch, off topic. Where was I. Oh, yes. I even showed you that it wasn't poisonus by drinking out of the flipping bowl. Furthermore, what type of kitten doesn't like milk?!_

The kitten didn't move.

Kageyama pinched the bridge of his nose. This was pointless. What the hell was he expecting, anyways, for Hinata to show up? His chest hurts at the thought. _HOLY SHIT KAGEYAMA STOP THINKING ABOUT HINATA ALREADY-_He stands and angrily walks over to his bed, feeling a headache looming over him. He flops down on the bed, staring up at the not-glowing light bulb on his ceiling.

Of course it's not glowing, it's still morning. Kageyama groans and throws an arm over his face.

Hinata senses the change in the atmosphere, and takes a peek at Kageyama. He stared at air, or rather, through the air at the door. Where did he go? He hears a muffled groan, and looks over to the bed. _Kageyama?_

He can feel the kitten staring at him. Is that even normal. What would he do if Hinata suddenly showed up, anyways? The fluttery feeling in his stomach from several days ago comes back again. I would probably...want to beat him up...but...I would probably also want to just envelope him-

"Meow," the kitten says, deciding Kageyama has once again spent more than enough time brooding and _c'mon give me some attention already!_ What, he did not just say that. Nope, nope, nope, he didn't just demand for attention like a six-year-old kid.

Well, it wouldn't be that bad if Kageyama gave him some attention once in a while, would it? Except, he was still a cat. But...it's kind of sad that the only interaction he's had with Kageyama all week was after he turned into a cat...

"Mrraaow, Kttch," _Don't be mad, Kageyama,_ the kitten says, louder this time.

Kageyama lifts his arm slightly to peek at the orange furball, only to see it padding over to his phone. "Oi!" Kageyama rolls off the bed, and lounges for it, "Give me that!"

The kitten starts, and it's paw hits it, sending the phone skidding across the room. He runs after it, with Kageyama a few inches behind him. He sees an arm stretch out and he leaps at the phone, successfully landing with his paws placed safetly around it like a wall of trees. He looks up to see an angry pair of blue eyes and _Noo wait, Kageyama, let me explain to you-_

And then they fight for the phone. Kageyama finally manages to stick his hand under the kitten's belly and shove it aside. He grabs his phone, and the kitten attacks his arm. He fumbles it in the air, fingers randomly pressing a series of buttons while trying to madly get a firm grip on it. _There._

He stands and holds high up. The kitten looks up, and stops. He sighs, "Don't touch my phone." He sits down on his bed with a sigh, fingers gripping the sleep button when he realizes he accidentally opened the conversation between him and Hinata. _Was that a new text?_

'Stupid, my phone died. Sorry.'

He sighs in relief. The end of his lips lift so very slightly, and Hinata swears he can feel his own kitten heart go doki doki at the sight. The soft whisper of, "Finally you replied, Dumbass" falls upon Hinata's ears and suddenly all he can think of is Since when did Kageyama become so adorable?

_'Well_

_You're a hot mess,_

_and I'm falling for you'-Cobra Starships_

Then realization hits Kageyama hard, and his eyes bulge, "Hah?! The dumbass typed and sent this from MY PHONE?!" then realizes with a hah?! that it was typed and sent from his own phone.

Kageyama springs up, effectively dropping his phone on the floor, which narrowly misses the tip of the kitten's whiskers. He looks around his room frantically, before sticking his head out of his bedroom and yelling, "HINATA?!" There's a moment of silence, with Kageyama's voice echoing through the hallway.

The kitten blinks, ears slightly ringing. _What was Baka-yama doing now?_

"Hinata? Where are you?!" Before the kitten can react, Kageyama is sprinting into the hallway, repeatedly yelling "HINATA WHERE ARE YOU?!" and sometimes varying it to "DUMBASS WHERE ARE YOU?!" or just shortening it to "DUMBASS!" as he runs around in his house. The kitten tries to chase after Kageyama to get him to listen, but no luck as Kageyama is faster than he is on his shorty kitten legs.

All he can do is flick his ear in annoyance and pad back to Kageyama's room to wait for his return. He could hear closet door being slammed open-_Stupid Kageyama, what are you doing, looking for me in those places?_ This was so annoying. How slow could he be? Hinata sighs, and pads over to the phone, noting with satisfaction that it was still unlocked, as he no longer remembers how he connected the dots the first time.

'I'm right beside you, idiot' He hits send with his nose, then leans back on his haunches, waiting.

A few moments later, Kageyama finally comes back, panting and looking frustrated and dissappointed. The kitten pushes his phone to him. He picks it up slowly, and amber eyes follow blue ones as they read the new text.

Kageyama's eyes widen, "Dumbass, what's that suppose to mean?! Where?!" He starts running off again, but Hinata jumps up and tries to tackle him, and ends up being the one who falls over. Kageyama turns around, and sees kitten lying on its back, looking up at him with those _flipping familiar_ orange eyes and_ wait hang on 'familiar' seemed to be the key word here._ The kitten takes hold of his pant leg, gently, and pulls him over to bed. Kageyama sits down, still holding his phone. Hinata jumps into his lap, and leans over, tapping with his nose

'I'm right here, idiot baka-yama.'

...To be continued.

* * *

Thank you for bearing with me and your words of encouragement!~and yeah it's not actually free-fall because air friction is acting on the volleyball, not just gravity,...oh well. Yeah, I'm dying in physics class right now...

But have you guys seen?! In the manga?! No spoilers but, _I NEVER THOUGHT BLOCKING COULD BE SO INTENSE~ Go Karasuno you need to win! _I'm sooo hyped up can't wait for next Friday ^.^


	6. Chapter 6: Bring the Kitten

I just want to say thank you to all for staying with this story until the very end. I do take time to read every review, and try my best to reply.

_A big thank you to : amedartyst ~you caught all of the subtle things in each chapter, thank you so much for the detailed reviews!_

* * *

_It's normal for them to fight. It still hurts, though._

_It's also torture to see Kageyama toss, and toss, and never toss to him. So Hinata takes the initiative. Kind of.  
_

* * *

_'I'm right here, idiot baka-yama.'_

_What_

_In _

_The _

_World-**Nope.**_

Kageyama stared stupidly at the kitten.

**_Nope._**

_But what if it is true-**Nope. Just, nope**. _

_It would explain why Hinata didn't show up for-**Nope.**_

_Those eyes were really familiar-**Nope. **And Hinata also looks up at me just the way the kitten does when he wants something-**Anyone** **who's less than 180.6 cm would have to look up at you when they talk.**_

_Perhaps you are just in denial-**Perhaps thinking about Hinata has finally put your puny brain into overdrive.**_

_Puny ?!**-Just face the fact that it is impossible for a human to turn into a cat.** _

(^^^)

Hinata's nose hits Kageyama's hard chest as he twists around, "Kttch, Mrr," _Kageyama, this is the part where you're suppose to jump for joy._

Kageyama continues to stare at him. _The kitten also smells like Hinata-**It could've rolled in Hinata's perfume.** That dumbass doesn't use perfume. **What if it rolled in Hinata's scent?** Hmm did the dumbass have a kitten? ...No, he never mentioned it so..._

"Mrrw," Hinata balances up on his two feet and swishes his tail around,_ Like this Kageyama, this is how you express your happiness._

_...Was it talking to him again? **Cats do not talk.** It's a kitten. **Kittens do not talk-at least, not to you. Small animals do not like you, remember?** Then maybe it really is Hinata- _

_Kageyama!_ Hinata hits him in the chest. _Kageyama! _

No response. **_ Bzz. _**_ASGFPLHXJ- **Bzz.** Warning. Brain going into overdrive. **Bzz. **_

Hinata slightly panics when he sees Kageyama's eyes glaze over. "...Mrrrrrr, Ktch..?" _...Kageyama? Are you okay?  
_

_It's back. The suffocating feeling of checking his phone frequently, only to see his own text bubbles staring back, mocking him. He can't imagine, refuses to imagine, what it would be like to have Hinata out of his life-it hurts too much to think about it. There's a ticking bomb inside him, ready to explode any moment. Yet the fuse stays unlit. There are sparks close by, but never close enough. It feels like his falling, falling straight down, and he can't see where he's going. There's no matter around him to curve his path with their pull of gravity; he is alone. No one to receive his tosses, no one to push him further, to draw out his true potential. _

_It's terrifying: this unknown place, where the world no longer matters, because he is falling into nothingness. There are invisible walls, because no matter how much he tries to reach out, to say 'Come back', there's no response._

_It's ridiculous, but it's slightly comforting to even just pretend the kitten is actually Hinata. It is so much easier, and it lifts the huge weight settling on his chest a little bit. Just enough so he can breathe without gasping in pain. Enough to keep in the tears of frustration, and to not completely lose control of his sanity and tosses. _

_But, he cannot continue to pretend. Kageyama Tobio would like to file a request: to go back, and shake his past self, and tell him to stay by Hinata's side. The butterflies he felt when hanging around the dumbass would've been better than the hollow gap that appears when he's not with him. _

_I don't...I don't want to avoid Hinata anymore. He clenches his jaw. The butterflies, the impulses, I'll take it all, I'll learn how to control them. I just...want my dumbass to be back with me again. Here. _

Another meow. _They are starting to sound like Hinata calling, 'Kageyama, Kageyama!'** Maybe his ears were breaking down now, following his brain. **...Maybe this kitten really was Hinata?**  
**_

The kitten starts fidgeting, fighting to keep his tail still,_ Kageyama, you finally found me. I'm really happy...aren't you? _The blue eyes are still glazed._ ...Did the real Kageyama just get abducted by aliens and got replaced by a clone? Or was a a drone?_ _Kageyama, say something!_ He tries to peer into Kageyama's eyes, trying to recall how the Captain did it back then, searching for any sign of life-

_**No.**_ _**That is impossible. How did you get through high school exams, again?**_"No," Kageyama says firmly to himself.

The kitten blinks, _Huh?_

"No," Kageyama's lips move again. _Don't look at me with those eyes. There's no way you can be-_

Blue eyes close, and the kitten is now looking at the back of Kageyama's head.

He hisses when his back meets the floor because _THE FLOOR IS COLD, KAGEYAMA ,WHY_. He springs back on his four paws and skirts around to the other side and jumps back into Kageyama's lap where it's _warm warm warm-COLD_.

His eyes flutter shut on reflex and he opens his eyes to see his paws pointing up at the ceiling with the non-glowing light bulb and _Hey it's kind of dark in here, shouldn't the light be turned on by now?  
_

"Stop it. Stop bothering me."

Something inside him snaps, and he's back up on four paws, fur sticking up indignantly. He skirts around Kageyama's legs, and glare fiercely up at him,_ That is the first thing you say to me, Baka-yama?! _

Amber eyes are boring into his once again, damn it. _This is starting to get annoying._ ...Is the kitten _hissing_ at him?! Holy flip,_ the kitten is actually hissing at him_. Kageyama's eyes narrow dangerously, into _I'm-flipping-pissed-off_ face, and the kitten hisses again. Another spark flares up, this time much too close to the bomb's fuse, and it ignites.

_Kageyama, why? How could you?! You're such a jerk! After all that time mopping over my absence, this is how you react when you realize I'm here?!_

_I-am-flipping-pissed-off_ upgrades into _Die, _and his internal ticking bomb explodes. "Stop it!" Kageyama hisses back, fists clenching-**_Real mature, Tobio_**. _You shut up._

If his mom walked in right now-or if his dad popped up for a surprise early return from who-knows-where-he-went-for-his-business-trip, they would see an orange dumbass furball hissing at their son, and their son towering over it, hissing right back into its stupid, not-adorable face.

"Stop messing with my head! There is...no way you could be..._Shouyou_," Kageyama bites out.

_Aho-Kageyama! Bakageyama! Baka-yama! Piekageyama! Idiot! Jerk!_ His amber eyes flash with anger, somewhere in there are unshed tears, but the only thing he feels is his body moving of its own accord. His lips are pulled back, revealing teeth, and a hissing sound is currently being emitted. Somewhere in the back of his head he wonders if this is how Kageyama came up with so many variations of insults: by screaming each and every one of them out randomly when he gets pissed off.

".._Shouyou_," The kitten is pulled out of this tangent when he hears Kageyama utter his name bitterly. Bitterly. He has absolutely no idea what Kageyama had been saying, however that one word has reached his ears. His English teacher must've been right about how last words leave great impressions, because it replays in his ears, Kageyama's bitter tone piercing through the kitten's anger like ice. He recoils from it-not sure if 'it' was the bitterness radiating from his own given name, or Kageyama.

Kageyama stops too, seeing the kitten flinch, its amber eyes round with hurt. The same eyes that Hinata looked at him with, when he had jumped with his 100%, entire presence calling for the drop-toss, and himself, being stupid and feeling a case of stomach-flutter start to appear, tossed it to Daichi instead.

Hinata had not yelled at him afterwards, as Daichi spiked it freely and got them a point, and instead silently asked him during the rest of the game, with these same eyes, _When do I get to hit your tosses again?_

His own question to himself had also surfaced: _When am I going to drop-toss to Hinata again?_

The floor creaks as he gets up, and turns away, away from the hurt amber eyes, away from everything. Part of himself wants to turn back, pull the kitten back into his arms, and crawl into his bed, and sleep. It's noon, it's lunchtime, and they both need to be fed, but he's not hungry, not when the weight falls back on his chest, hard. Instead, he gets up, and walks away. **_Avoiding Hinata again, great job, Tobio._ **_For the last time, Hinata is not here. You said that yourself._ _Even if he was, he would not be a kitten; humans cannot turn into kittens, biologically impossible, remember?_

The kitten sees Kageyama get to his feet, his socked heel facing him. Each step Kageyama takes increases the distance between them both. _ Kageyama... _Amber eyes follow the heels of his socked feet as he sits down on his chair and pulls out his math sheet, and picks up a pencil. _Not again,_ he thinks, remembering how he called for a toss, but ended up spiking at the air. _What is the point of being a decoy if the ball is never sent my way? What's the point of being friends, if you're going to refuse every single offer to spend time with me? Toss to me, Kageyama. You tossed to me when you didn't know who I was, when you thought I was just a kitten. _

_Back then. When I spiked your toss. As a kitten. __I remember making you smile._

Blue eyes stare stubbornly at the sheet, trying to comprehend the questions, trying to not glance over at the hurt furball he had left in the corner. _**Remember Sensei calling on you randomly?** Yeah. **What was your answer then?** 19.** Why don't you just write it on each blank then, at least one of them would be right; Sensei was probably going over a question that's in this homework.** My answer didn't even make sense; I just added Hinata's jersey number to my jersey number. How is that suppose to answer quadratic problems? **Who knows? Maybe sometimes the simplest answer is the right one.** ...Hinata isn't a simple answer at all,_ he retorts, thinking of the soft orange fur and**-**_**Hinata is not the kitten**._

_Jerk, Jerk, Jerk, Kageyama is such a jerk!_ He feels his fur fluff up again, and resists the urge to hiss. He wants Kageyama to _come back_, to _notice him_, and to toss to him again. It was easier in the beginning, because Kageyama had told him directly why he wasn't being tossed to. _But now...what is he suppose to do? Is there even a right answer? _He wraps his tail tightly around his body._ Kageyama...  
_

_The awkward silence in between us is not what I want._

"Mrraow," _Meatbuns?_

He feels a shard of satisfaction, when he sees Kageyama tighten the grip on his pencil.

"Mrraoow," _Meatbuns, I'm hungry, feed me._ He watches as Kageyama's jaw clenches, blue eyes refusing to turn his way. _You can't ignore me forever, Kageyama. I'm going to make you look at me again, and smile at me again. I want to hit your tosses, and I want you to toss to me. I...I want to try, and make you smile. _

_I hate hissing at you, and making you upset, He thinks back to Kageyama's face when he didn't reply to his texts. _

_It's funny seeing your reactions, like the face you make when I race you and win, but I hate making you actually upset. _

_Kageyama...I don't know what I did, and I'm still not sure what you did. But...will you let me into your life again? _

_Me, as Hinata, and not as a kitten._

He doesn't feel it, doesn't feel the ache, nor the weight. He can't, because he has to focus on his stupid math sheet, has to practice tossing, but what would be the point, without someone hitting it? _Hinata, when are you going to come back? _He tugs at his bangs, wondering if he's slowly going insane. Why does he feel this weight? He should be able to bear it though; he's felt much worse a year ago._ Is this any different? Should it be any different? Hinata...where did you go?_

_Damn it, you dumbass. You make me toss to you, push me to increase my accuracy, over and over again. I practiced so many nights, tossing the volleyball over and over again, for my special drop-toss, for our special quick attack. You can't just disappear like this. We're like the oni and the konobo, always together. When I find you, I'm going to hold you close, and never FLIPPING LET YOU RUN AWAY AGAIN, STUPID, DUMBASS HINATA! AND YOU BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF FOR A FLIPPING LONG LECTURE FROM YOURS TRULY ABOUT-_

_The paper is still blank. Argh, screw everything._ He glares at the piece of paper, aims the pointy end of his pencil, and launches his attack. It is only when every x=_ is filled with '19' does Kageyama realize what he has just done, and throws down his pencil. He pushes away the stupid piece of paper with '19' written messily over it, and lays his forehead on the cool surface of his desk.

Amber eyes follow the pencil, watching it roll in slow in motion, stop for a millisecond at the edge, and fall to the floor. They turn back to Kageyama, who's face is hidden by his arms. He hears Kageyama's ragged breathing slowly even out. ... After minutes of silence, the kitten uncurls his tail, and takes a cautious step forward. Then another, his tail raised, bracing himself for a sudden outburst.

_Kageyama?_

Kageyama involuntarily clenches his fist. With his eyes closed, he is hyper-aware of everything around him. His ear pick up the soft _thump, thump_ sound of the kitten's paws on the ground, slowly growing louder has it approaches him. He freezes when he feels soft fur brush against his ankle.

He stops besides Kageyama's foot, and picks up the pencil with his teeth.

He hears a clinking sound, and the fur is gone. There's a whoosh of the wind, and he hears the thump, as the kitten jumps onto his table. His breath quickens. He squeezes his eyes tightly shut, and forces himself to relax, forces his breath to even out. _Maybe if I pretend I'm asleep..._

_Kageyama,_ the kitten pokes him with the pointy end of the pencil. No reaction. _Kageyama, Kageyama, I know you're awake. Here's your pencil. Kageyama, take your pencil. _

The poking is NOT STOPPING. His eye twitches underneath a half-open eyelid.

_Kageyama, Kageyama!_

_STUPID FURBALL, STOP THAT._ Unfortunately, his telepathy is disfunctional right now. _STUPID DUMBASS FURBALL GET OVER HERE_\- He opens both eyes, and is met by a pair of amber ones, inches away from his own, soft strands of something tickling his nose, "HOLY SHIT!" he screams, and shoves the kitten off the table. _Almost got a flipping heart attack, _he closes his eyes, and takes in a deep breath, exhaling through his mouth.

A strong pair of hands hit him in the flank, and he's flying in the air. He lands on his back, and springs back on his feet. He flings the pencil at the furthest wall, _Jerk. I going to give you your pencil, WHICH YOU DROPPED._ He starts padding out the room haughtily, but pauses at the doorway. He glances back, and sees Kageyama sitting up with his eyes closed, breathing in and out. _Are you pretending to be asleep again? I'm not stupid, Baka-yama._

He looks on for a bit longer, blinking away the wetness in his eyes, _what the heck, tear ducts?!_ He turns back for Kageyama's jacket sitting neatly on top of the sports bag he had fell into the first time he came in, and drags it with him out the door, and down the stairs.

* * *

He stops downstairs, and looks at the locked front door. He wonders if he would be able to jump up, and unlock it. But if he drags Kageyama's jacket outside, it'll get dirty, and maybe rip. He drops the jacket, and nuzzles his nose lovingly into it, inhaling Kageyama's scent. _I love this jacket._ Going outside (or attempting to) with his precious item, is out of the question.

He picks up the jacket again. He walks slowly in a random direction, dragging his paws against the cool wood floor. His fur tingles, and he turns a corner, following his whiskers, and is soon basking in warmth. He looks up, and golden rays of the setting sun blind him in the eye. He blinks, shifting his body until the rays didn't hit his eyes directly. It's a large window, the length of 10 volleyballs, with a height of 9 volleyballs.

Looking outside, at the fading mix of pink, and purple, with streaks of orange and yellow, the window is a world of possibilities. Closer to him, dark blue is slowly engulfing the sky, transitioning from day to night. Through the window, he can see the sky, the vast sky, limitless. There's a small crescent-shaped white thing floating beside a cloud; it is the moon, slowly making its appearance.

He's not sure how long he sits there, basking in the warmth, feeling it slowly fade away with the sun. His fur tingles again when the last bit of orange in the horizon melts into blue. Blue.

There are so many different shades of blue, and he looks at each one now, through the window, wondering exactly how many there are. He doesn't count them, though. The moon brightens. It isn't cold without the sun, he thinks, amber eyes fixed on it, the night offers its own sort of comfort. He sits now in a cool spot on the floor, sheltered in the dark.

A beam of light passes by, illuminating the living room. His hair shoots straight up. A shadow of something huge passes by quickly. Big long shadows are cast on the floor, and disappear as quickly as they appear. It's just a car, he tells himself, but his fur does not settle back down. It is late, and he wonders when they are going to eat, since _Stupid Kageyama practically kicked me out of his room without feeding me...and no one else is home... _Cars continue to pass by, and amber eyes follow spotlights as they travel across the floor. His stomach grumbles, and he needs _meatbuns_, now.

_I'm hungry._

He looks back up at the sky, and sees a small dot appear. Then slowly, another. And then another-the star is moving. With a red thing flashing beside it.

_An airplane._

...Kageyama's moods swings are kind of like the moon.

_Kageyama is being unfair, ignoring me without giving me some sort of warning first. Maybe we could've solved it together, but no, he had to go run off and do everything his way._

It's not hard to be around Kageyama; there were glares, milkboxes, and the volleyball nonsense, but there were also times where he'd get a smile, and tosses reserved specially for him, and other things that make his chest swell and want to jump up and hug Kageyama forever. Like the konobo and his oni, _Let's stay like this forever._

_When did it become so difficult?_

He isn't use to people closing themselves in, refusing any contact with him at all. He knows it's something that's got to do with him and Kageyama because when has it not? and Kageyama is talking to everyone else, and tossing to everyone else, so-Something warm drips onto his whisker, and amber eyes squeeze tightly shut. He remembers how Kageyama texted him first, and tries to grasp onto that, that he still wanted them to be together, still wanted to toss to him.

_Still wanted him to hit his tosses._

He lashes his tail angrily, He wasn't going to let his setter leave so easily; not after all the tears, the sweat, the effort, the time they spent apart, just to perfect their one-of-a-kind zero tempo drop toss quick attack.

_No._

_But the tears won't stop, Why, why? Why the emptiness?_ He feels like he's back in middle school, he's the spiker without a setter, without a teammate. He has so many people around him, but not one of them is his setter. A high invisible wall is in front of him, built by both of their banters, and the silence, and he can't jump because he doesn't know how high it is. _ Kageyama, Kageyama, where are you, I need you here,_ because it is always easier to break down a wall when Kageyama is supporting him.

The room suddenly seems eerily dark and the headlights are gone. He wants Kageyama's warmth, needs Kageyama's touch, Kageyama's voice, his tosses, his drop tosses, his smiles to be directed at him again. He misses Kageyama's insults, and the way he can says "Dumbass" in a million different tones, to mean a million different things. It's just Kageyama is ignoring him, just like when they first met, except this time they already met.

_We fight all the time, he tells himself. But not like this...and I...didn't miss him like this three years ago._

_When did everything become complicated?_

He is staring out the window, looking at the sky, where the moon and stars are covered by a wispy cloud. _Kageyama, Kageyama, what do I do? What do we do? Come downstairs, its scary and I'm hungry and when are you going to feed me? Can we have meatbuns and eat them together just like yesterday? _

_...It's really scary being alone at night. _

_Kageyama, I want to go outside and run up the tree and jump into your window so I can be with you. It's so lonely down here._ His tail moves to curl around his paws, and hits the tranquil bundle resting beside him. He shifts to lie on his stomach, and lowers his head onto the jacket. He inhales Kageyama's scent, and imagines Kageyama's arms around him. He takes a deep breath, _I'm safe. I'm safe. The light isn't on, but I know Kageyama is upstairs. I can feel his presence. _

_I'm safe._

He relaxes into the jacket, into Kageyama's scent, and the only thing missing now is Kageyama himself, and his warmth. But it's enough for now, he'll chase after the rest tomorrow.

He yawns, buries his nose into the fabric, and closes his eyes.

A dark figure approaches the sleeping bundle on the floor. The figure halts in front of it, and crouches down, and reaches out cautiously. The bundle does not move, except for the rhythmic rising and falling of its pelt. The bundle is picked up gingerly, and carefully cradled to the figures chest. An ear twitches, and the figure freezes. Then the figure turns around, and troops back upstairs with the bundle, the kitten sleeping soundly.

The dark figure steps into a room, and closes the door behind them. There's the sound of a stray volleyball hitting a foot, followed by a string of whisper-curses. There's the creak of a matress. The kitten stirs when he feels a body beside him. Hazy amber eyes meet alert blue ones. Apparently the kitten decides this is okay, because amber eyes close, and his breath evens out again. The figure drapes an arm over the sleeping furball. Moments later, his breath evens out too.

* * *

_(^^^)_

**_Beep. Beep. Beep._** Kageyama shuts off his alarm clock, then snuggles back into the blankets, fingers tangled in fur, Hinata's scent around him. He's comfortable-much more comfortable than he had been the whole week, and drifts back to sleep.

_**Bzz.** _He groans, and tries to ignore it. He rolls onto his side, something slipping off of him, and he pulls the covers over his head. Something squirms next to his stomach, but he just wants to sleep, and ignores the possibilities of what that 'thing' might be.

**_Bzz._ **Is the whole world against him? **_Bzz._**_ Flipping shit_. He grabs a fistful of the covers, and presses them tightly against his ears. **_Bzz. _**He groans again, and rolls onto his front, inhaling the scent of his own pillow. He takes the sides of it and presses them against his ears too. He just wants to sleep, swamped by Hinata's scent. It's nice and warm. He doesn't want to get up yet.

_**Bzz.** _Why_**-** **Bzz.** _Does he have to- _**Bzz.**_ If people will stop texting him, then he can go back to bed- **_Bzz. _**

He bolts upright, walks off the bed, and stalks over to his phone, still plugged into the wall socket. It glowed green.

_21 hours ago _

_To: Karasuno Volleyball Club_

_Listen_

_Bus will be leaving at 8_

_Don't be late_

_-Daichi_

_10 minutes ago_

_Kageyama, we're waiting for you._

_-Daichi_

_5 minutes ago _

_Are you not joining us today, King? (Tsukishima)_

_Bring the kitten! (Tanaka)_

_Bring the kitten~ (Nishinoya)_

_One minute ago_

_...Did you find Hinata? \^.^/ (Sugawara)_

_The bus is leaving soon—Kageyama, please hurry. (Asahi)_

_Tell the kitten to hurry too! (Nishinoya)_

_Don't forget to feed it-(Asahi)_

Kageyama stares blankly at the lines directed at him._ Bus? Why?_ He checks the time, 7: 49 AM. _Wait, bus...oh, the volleyball practice game. Against Nekoma. Whatever._ He considers tossing his phone aside, and crawling back to bed. Then it all clicks. THE VOLLEYBALL PRACTICE GAME WITH NEKOMA AND THE BUS IS SUPPOSE TO LEAVE AT 8:00 AND IT'S ALREADY 7:49 HOW IS HE GOING TO GET THERE BUT HE'S THE SETTER HE HAS TO BE THERE AND IS HINATA GOING TO BE THERE-_NO DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT._

_HOLY FLIP._ Kageyama nearly drops his phone, and scrambles around his room, throwing his clean practice clothes-_thank you Kaa-san_-and waterbottle-_there's actually water in there, thanks again Kaa-san_-along with his towel and shoes into his sports bag. He throws off his wrinkled clothes and runs around his room in his boxers, throwing on the first pieces of clothing he could find. He's swearing under his breath as he goes, "Shit shit shit shit flipping holy shit" because flipping volleyball practice, with flipping Nekoma, he cannot miss the bus, shit, shit shit, shit argh Hurry up Tobio!

"Meow."

He freezes, already halfway out his bedroom. He turns back to see a certain orange fur ball blinking its eyes sleepily, sitting up on his bed. Shit, Hinat! He slings his bag around his shoulder, and grabs it, the furry thing's warmth spreading to his own hands, I mean, shit, kitten, not, not Hinata! The kitten nuzzles his chest, and he takes a deep breath,_ Calm down, Tobio, calm down._ He runs downstairs and flings open the front door with his free hand, the other holding the kitten tightly against his chest.

"Tobio, are you leaving now?"

"Yeah, I-SHIT MY JACKET!?" he releases all hold on the dumbass and dashes back upstairs.

His mother nearly spills her coffee over her pile of documents when the front door slams, echoing. She looks out the window frantically and sees Tobio running for his life, his hair uncombed, and the kitten clinging onto his shoulders for dear life.

_Ah,_ she smiles, _Tobio is so energetic in the morning._

(^^^)

Kageyama sits on the bus, his hands gripping his knees, his head bowed, trying to catch his breath. The dark aura emitting from him practically rivals Daichi's killing aura that had been aimed at him when he leaped into the bus, the doors nearly swinging shut on his bag.

Damn it; if he had gotten into Shiratorizawa, then maybe, maybe, the bus would've waited for him. They had their own volleyball club bus, after all. Then again, Ushijima is kind of self-centered, so maybe not. Plus, he'd rather dump shot for a whole set than toss to that guy.

He coughs, his throat raspy and dry, and tries to take a deep breath in, and out. Holy flipping-_gasp_-shit-_cough_-damn it-_pant_-deep breath, come on-_inhale_-

"Hey, hey, Kageyama," their libero is peering at him cautiously, only the top-half of his face above the back of his seat, "Are you going to be okay?"

_I'm fine,_ he wants to say, but when he opens his mouth, he starts coughing again. He tries to focus on something else, anything, because his rapid heart rate isn't slowing down, and his diaphragm is not cooperating. _Stupid, stupid dumbass furball that made me run a marathon right before our game, _he tugs on his collar, trying to loosen it a bit,_ I'm practically dead and we haven't even played yet._ He can feel the soft vibration waves on his side, where the orange furball had curled up and fallen asleep. _..._ He's half-tempted to wake it up; he's dying over here, after getting it a whole bag of meatbuns, and it didn't even eat any. It's just SLEEPING on the flipping bus while he's still trying to recover from nearly getting crushed by the bus doors.

He concentrates on the vibrations, and it kind of works. He looks up through his bangs, and meets Nishinoya-san's eyes, "I'm fine, I will play."

"Are you sure?" Another head turns around: it's Tsukishima. _Why is that guy sitting with their libero?_ The middle-blocker's eyes widen, "What happened to you?"

His aura darkens, and blue eyes narrow, _What._

"BWAHAHAHA" Tanaka has wandered over, "Woah, Kageyama, never knew you were into those types of hair!"

"The Baldy said that," someone whispers behind them, possibly Ennoshita.

Tanaka is instantly in his macho pose, shirt off and whirling above his head, "_YOU_ JUST CAN'T APPRECIATE MY MANLINESS." The shirt catches on a pole, and falls, right on Tanaka's head.

Then Daichi turns around, smiles, and reminds Tanaka that they are currently sitting in a _public_ bus, and to put his shirt back on.

Kageyama has already blocked this out, and is currently running his hand through his hair. For once, it isn't combed and flat-it's sticking up everywhere and _flip_ it's not going back down. He pivots his glare to the furball still curled up beside him, _This is your fault._

An orange ear twitches, and sleepy amber eyes meet his. Jaws open, and a fur ball is coughed out. _Good morning, Kageyama._

Unknown to both of them, Suga and Daichi are telepathically communicating via eye-contact. They come to an agreement, and Daichi turns to Kageyama, "Are you sure you'll be able to play today?"

He nods, "Of course." His breathing has mostly returned to normal, and there is no way he would miss the match against Nekoma. He's going to play his 100%, even if it kills him, because _volleyball_ and _Nekoma_, and he'll get to see that setter in action and observe silently-that guy _still_ refuses to talk to him-

"WAAAH THAT IS SO COOL!" Tanaka is beside him now, eyeing the fur ball—not the _dumbass furball_, but the actual fur ball—on the bus seat, "CAN I KEEP IT, CAN I?"

_What the heck_, "Uh, yes, Tanaka-senpai," he says, not knowing what else to say. _I also have a bunch of these at home, if you want it. _ Beside him, amber eyes look at the loud spiker in confusion.

Tanaka scoops it up with both hands, "YES!" He leans over, proudly displaying his find to Nishinoya.

"IS THAT," a gleam appears in Nishinoya's eyes, "A FUR BALL?"

Tanaka shrugs, and looks over to Kageyama for confirmation. He nods.

"WOOOH" Nishinoya is now out of his seat as well, and grabs Tanaka's wrists, "Tanaka, this means...YOU ARE CURRENTLY HOLDING A PART OF THE KITTY!"

"WOOOH" Tanaka holds it high up in the air, "We gotta show this to everyone, Noya!"

"Sit _down_, Tanaka."

"But Daichi, it's-"

Daichi smiles, and they scramble back into their seats.

"Mrraow."

The soft growling of the kitten's stomach reaches Kageyama's ears.

"Mrraow,"_ Meatbuns,_ the kitten balances on his two hindlegs, and paws Kageyama's right arm, "Mrraow."

Right, this is why he sprinted a marathon right before their Nekoma practice match. He sighs, and unzips his sports bag, and sticks his hand inside, rummaging around for the brown paperb-_Right there._ He takes out one, and the kitten immediately attacks it. He watches the whiskers twitch, and the fluffy orange tail sway back and forth in content. A warm feeling creeps up in his chest, _I should feed this dumbass more often._

He leaves that one with the kitten, and pulls out another. He brings it to his lips, and is about to take a bite, when the meatbun gains ten pounds. Small, sharp incisors have already sunk into his. He tries to pull his arm away, only succeeding in bringing the kitten along with it, "Oi! This is mine!"

It's too late though; the kitten looks up at him from a half-eaten meatbun. Then it tucks its chin, and continues eating.

_Tch._ He sticks his hand back into his bag, and takes out his milkbox. He single-handedly pulls off the straw, and sticks it in with his teeth. He takes a deep sip, and looks down at his other now-empty hand. Amber eyes meet his, as if begging for more. He pointedly turns away,_ Two meatbuns are more than enough for a tiny furball like you._

A paw is promptly shoved into his face, and the world practically ends because _DON'T TOUCH MY MILKBOX, DUMBASS_.

Sugawara smiles, watching the scene unfold, "Is Hinata alright, Kageyama?"

Kageyama stops in mid-battle for his milkbox, and looks up nonchalantly. Beside him, the kitten promptly latches onto the straw and tries to sip it, but nothing comes out. "I don't know; I didn't find him."

The kitten nips his finger in frustration,_ Kageyama, the milk isn't coming out. _

"Ow!" Kageyama successfully draws his hand out of the furball's range.

"Mrraow," Meatbun, amber eyes bore into blue ones, _Another one, Kageyama. _

_I'm-flipping-pissed-off _face makes its re-appearance. No more, not after you almost stole my milkbox— Orange fur rubs against his side, and _I'm-flipping-pissed-off _ starts melting.

_Please, Kageyama?_

_OH MY GOD FINE_, he pushes the kitten off before something drastic happens, and reaches for another meatbun. It couldn't possibly be healthy to have a warm orange dumbass rub against anyone.

Oh, Suga is surprised. He swivels back to Daichi, puzzled, _Something must've happened._

Daichi shakes his head, _At least as Kageyama is cheered up._

Then Suga grins, watching as the kitten scarfs down yet another meatbun,_ I think it has something to do with the kitten-! _He turns back to Daichi_, What if Hinata is the kitten-_

Daichi frowns dissapprovingly, _Suga, that's not-_

_But just think about it, it makes sense doesn't it?_ Grey eyes are almost glowing with excitement, _No one can cheer up Kageyama the way Hinata does, and it even loves meatbuns._

_Suga, I'd like it if Hinata was here with us too, but that theory is a bit far-fetched._ But Daichi is kind of convinced.

_What if I win?_ A mischievous look.

A sigh, _I'll do whatever you ask._

_(^^^)_

* * *

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

* * *

Asahi dribbles the volleyball three times. He inhales sharply, throws it up in the air, and jumps. It travels straight along the sideline, and is recieved by Yaku, who passes it to Kenma. Their attack is recieved by Daichi, and the ball goes to Sugawara. _Pipe. _

Kageyama is on court as well, in the back. Tanaka jumps, and hits the air. As he lands, Kageyama jumps, and hits the ball. It goes through the two blockers—it was a one-touch by Inouka—and Nobuyuki sends it back to Kenma.

_Toss._

_Ah, the energy buzzing on the court. I can feel it right there._ Hinata is sitting up straight, perched beside Yamaguchi, who's standing on the sideline with his other teammates. His tail swishes happily, _I want to play, I want to play._

Amber eyes watch the plays attentively, zeroing in on the looming wall Kuroo makes, Inouka's dive when Tanaka's spike slips through the small gap between Kuroo's right arm and the net. He's running, focusing on the front of the court. The ball flies off of Kenma's fingers, and Inouka is zooming up at Tsukishima's blind spot, ready to spike it.

_I'm not letting you through_-He meows in surprise; his face doesn't even go over the net when he pushes off on his hindlegs. He crashes into Tsukishima's side, and ends up on the floor, paws in the air. He looks up in wonder at the white strings that are farther away than usual, _What went wrong? That was a good run-up, and I had the momentum, the strengt-_

He is picked up by the scruff of his neck, and Tsukishima's face is looming over his. Green eyes bore into his own, as if travelling through his optic nerve to his brain, delving deep inside, inspecting him, "King, tell your kitten to watch from the sidelines."

Hinata's whisker twitches in annoyance, _Not fair,_ but he doesn't curl back his lips and hiss. Tsukishima is kind of scary right now, almost as scary as Kageyama when he served into the back of his setter's head for the first time. Tsukishima looms over him, glasses reflecting, and Hinata feels like a cornered dust bunny who can't see the face of his executor.

Then cool fingers are threaded through his flank, and Hinata finds himself yanked sharply away. "He's not mine."

_Kageyama?_ He twists his head 90° and sees Kageyama glaring angrily-not at him, but at a spot way above his head. His eyes drift to the bead of sweat running down his setter's jawline. The Adam's apple jumps as the transparent drop travels by, and he's scrambling in Kageyama's arms, propelling himself towards it, _I want to lick it._

The fingers are back, this time grappling at him, and _So close_. His pink tongue flicks out, and catches it. Then the spot under his front legs are _cold, cold, cold,_ and he's jerked upwards. "Oi, stop that, dumbass!" Kageyama's voice is coming from underneath him.

Sugawara exchanges a look with Daichi, _Dumbass?_

_Isn't that only reserved for-?_

Hinata's tail swishes gleefully when he discovers that, for once, he has to look down to meet Kageyama's eyes. _Ha! Take that! 162.8 cm beats 180.6 cm today!_

"Tsk," Kageyama feels the corner of his lips lifting up, and pulls them down again. The kitten just licked him. What. And now he had to flipping lift his head to look at it, _What the hell is the stupid furball doing up here?_

"Ne, Kageyama," it's Kuroo, "Are you sure that kitten isn't yours?"

_ Oh wait, I'm the one holding him up, aren't I?_

_Kageyama, your sweat is kind of salty. But it also tastes good. Is that weird? Is that okay? Also, I love being taller than you, but staying this long in the air is defying physics and—volleyball!_

_What am I even doing, standing in the middle of the court, holding a bright orange furball. Oh, right, volleyball game. Focus. _Blue eyes narrow, and darken.

"..." The others watch this exchange quietly.

"WAAAHAAAHHAAHH" Tanaka is the first to break the silence, "KITTY'S GOING TO GET MURDERED!"

Tsukishima raises his eyebrows disapprovingly, "I wouldn't advise you to do that, King. Take responsibility."

"EH?!" Nishinoya's eyes bug out, "Isn't that...domes...domestical...DOMESTIC VIOLENCE?!"

"Uh, I thought that was something else?" Asahi rubs his neck nervously.

"The kitty," Nishinoya points at the fluffball currently high up in the air, "Is a domestic animal. So violence against it must be domestic violence! You get my gist, Asahi?"

"Y-Yeah...but I don't think that's how it works..."

"YOU LOT!"

"Coach!"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, OR WHY WE'RE MISSING OUR DECOY, BUT SHUT THE FL*P UP AND PLAY! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME, FOR FL*PPING-"

"Please, language," Takeda-sensei fervently shout-whispers.

"Right," Ukai's blonde bangs bob up and down. Then his head snaps back up, "YOU LOT!" he points to the six _plus one_ currently on court, "FOCUS! RESUME THE GAME!" then his finger shifts to point directly at Kageyama, "KAGEYAMA, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR SOFT LIFE WITH YOUR KITTEN. IT STAYS ON THE SIDELINE DURING GAMES, UNDERSTOOD?!"

"...Yes."

_No! Not fair!_ Hinata bores into blue eyes imploringly,_ no, no, please, Kageyama, I want to play!_

Blue eyes waver.

**_Tweet._ **

Hinata is set, plop, back on the bench.

"..." Kageyama sighs, "Stay here."

He watches Kageyama return to the back, the huge number nine on his back almost glowing. _I want to be wearing my jersey._ He watches Tsukishima's arms loom over the net, _I'm a middle blocker too_, listens to the different thumps of the volleyball, _I wonder what my spikes sound like_, and the atmosphere on the court is right in front of him, dangling like a string out of reach.

_I want to be a part of the game!_

He watches Kageyama's jump-serve hit the white line, and sees Ennoshita hold up a white card with the number 2 on it. His paws itch to be the one that's standing there, to be the one going on court, to be the one getting to-

The bench quivers, and a soothing hand is placed onto his head, "Hey there."

He meows, eyes fixated on the court.

There's a pause, then, "Do you want to play, Hinata?"

His head snaps to the right at the sound of his own name. _Sugawara-senpai!_

Grey eyes study the kitten for a moment, and Suga smiles, "Am I right? Are you Hinata?"

His jaw drops, and amber eyes shimmer in excitement, Yes, yes, yes!

Suga sighs, "Thank goodness; we were all worried."

_You were?_

A nod, "We didn't say it in front of Kageyama, though. He...is probably taking your absence the hardest."

_... I doubt it. I don't even know why he avoided me for so long. But we practiced volleyball together again, in his backyard! And he tossed to me, and tossed to me, and it was so much fun! I don't see why he can't toss to me now. We also ate meatbuns! And he tried feeding me milk, but he ended up drinking it himself. And-_

Suga laughs, and pats him on the head some more, _Sounds like you had a lot of fun!_

_He also smells really good, and I like cuddling with him. Suga-senpai, is that okay?_

Suga looks at the kitten thoughtfully,_ Does he know how you feel?_

_I...don't know. But he cuddles back?_

Another smile, this one a little different from the others,_ It should be okay. It might help to talk about it, maybe?_

_Yeah! But I'm still a kitten. I'll...make it happen. Thank you, Suga-senpai!_

_Ah, Hinata, when do you think you'll be reverting back to a human_—_ _Suga is cut-off by Ennoshita's call:_  
_

"Sorry, cover!"

Ennoshita had sprawled for the ball, after an unexpected tip by Nobuyuki. It's back in the air, _thank goodness,_ but their formation is scrambled. _When the receive goes awry, the toss is usually sent to the ace, _blue eyes are fixated on the ball, reading its trajectory, _However,_ Kageyama runs under the falling volleyball, and bends his knees, _However, in this case,_

Amber eyes widen, the energy on the court finally reaching him—_This is the perfect time to do,_ with a hard thrust of his hind legs, Hinata is bounding out onto the court again; Suga's arms stretching out too late.

The ball is falling, falling, falling, as if in slow motion__—_Hinata would be able to pull off our special quick here_

He boosts his speed as he draws closer,_ Drop toss, Kageyama, drop toss!_

His brain is running at 100% now, his hands poised, the ball right there and—_I miss you I miss you I miss you, _Kageyama repeats in his head, and all he sees are those amber eyes and _How long has it been since they've looked at him that way when they hit his tosses? _He can almost envision the shock of orange hair, smell the scent_—_the same one from last night_—_here, inside the white lines and his fingertips touch the leather_—__Where? Where should the ball go? There! _Everything zooms onto that spot, _Right there where Asahi's hand would hit it, but-_

The kitten gives a powerful push, and flies, _Toss it here, come on, toss to me, Kageyama!  
_

A shock of orange enters his peripheral vision, _Dammit Hinata I miss you I miss you so much— _He flexes his legs, and gives with the ball, wrists flexing on instincts. He knows he tossed it right, knows he did it right-HOLY CRAP THE VOLLEYBALL IS FLYING BACKWARDS. WHY THE FLIP_ IS IT GOING OVER THERE—_FLIP THAT'S A DROP TOSS_—_FLIP WHAT DID I DO_—_FLIP—

_A drop toss!_ His whiskers tremble happily, _KAGEYAMA TOSSED TO ME, YES! _His eyes find his target, and he swings his paw. The volleyball goes over the net and contacts the floor,**_ BAM. _**He lands on the ground, and whips around, beaming.

Kageyama is all breathless_—_

He's breathless too and_—_

**_Tweet._ **

"BWAHAHAHA what is that you're wearing?!" Tanaka, first to break out of his stupor, is clutching his stomach with one hand, and pointing at Hinata's attire with the other.

Hinata blinks, and looks down. He's back: his orange fur is gone, he's in his socks again, and the floor looks further away from his face. "Uh_—_"

"WAAH YOUR PISTACHIO PYJAMAS ARE SO COOL, SHOUYOU!" Nishinoya gives Hinata a thumbs-up, "JUST LIKE ME, YOUR SENPAI!"

"Thanks, Noya-senpai!" He attempts to bounce over, but slipps, and ends up flat on his back.

Kageyama cocks his head, _This looks familiar._

* * *

"Hinata!" Daichi marches over next.

He quickly gets back up, bracing himself, "Yes!"

"Where have you been?" Daichi waves his hand wildly, nearly smacking Tanaka in the face, "Absent for days without explanation, not answering your phone, not replying to our texts, worrying the shit out of all of us_—"_

"Daichi," Suga had walked over too, and placed his hand on their captain's shoulder, "Calm down. If you lose it, the others will too." True to his words, the Nekoma players + coaches + Takeda-sensei were watching the scene with wide eyes.

"DUMB. ASS."

Hinata turns back to his setter, and quickly steps back a few feet, "K-Kageyama, wait, I can explain_—"_

Kageyama's _I-am-flipping-pissed-off face_ only becomes ten times worse as he stalks closer, closing the gap in between.

He still towers over him, but not as much as before. He feels like he merged with two-and-a-half lucifer dogfishes in two seconds. "Hey, Kageyama, you're not as scary as before, you know."

"Hah?! What's that suppose to mean, dumbass?!" Kageyama's hand shoots out, pressing onto his head with full force, "WHO'S THE DUMBASS THAT SKIPPED A MILLION PRACTICES?! WHO'S THE DUMBASS THAT WENT M.I.A. ?! WHO'S THE DUMBASS THAT REPLIED THROUGH MY PHONE AFTER _I_ TEXTED _YOU_ FIFTY TIMES?! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO MAKE IT TO THE NATIONALS, IF YOU DON'T PRACTICE YOUR SUCKY RECIEVES, DUMBASS HINATA?!" _Okay, shit, that might've been an exaggeration_ because, no, they didn't have a million practices in the past few days, and no, he didn't actually send fifty texts _(it sure flipping felt like it, though)_, but flipping shitty dumbass had him so worried _WHY THE FLIP DIDN'T HE SAY ANYTHING WHEN HE WAS RIGHT THERE. DUMBASS HINATA._

Something inside him breaks loose, and he pushes away Kageyama's arm, "WELL, WHO'S THE ONE THAT WOULDN'T TOSS TO ME DURING PRACTICE?! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO GET ANYTHING DONE IF YOU KEEP IGNORING ME, BAKA-YAMA?!"

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Ukai's blonde bangs jounce with his voice projection. Beside him, Takeda-sensei crings, and covers his ears. "ARE YOU LOT GOING TO PLAY THIS MATCH SERIOUSLY, OR WHAT?! ... HINATA SHOUYOU!"

Hinata turns left, and slaps his arms against his side, trying to stand as straight as possible, "Coach!"

"WHY WERE YOU ABSENT_—NO, _WHERE_—_WHAT WERE YOU—HOW DID YOU EVEN_—NEVERMIND_. JUST, " he pauses, and inhales deeply," Are you going to play in this match, or sit out?"

"I want to play, Coach!"

"THEN HURRY UP AND GET CHANGED! I HAVE ABSOLUTE ZERO TOLERANCE FOR TARDINESS, UNDERSTOOD?!"

"Yes! ...but I...didn't bring...my..." volleyball stuff. He bites his lip, and looks at the ground in frustration. Cool fingers touch his neck briefly, and he's yanked harshly by the back of his collar.

"Coach, I have Hinata's stuff with mine," Kageyama says, from behind him.

Ukai just sighs, "JUST HURRY UP!"

He can only assume Kageyama nodded. The hand tightens, and starts pulling him way from the court. "Hey! Kageyama, hey!" he twists around, trying to get out of the death grip, "Kageyama, I can walk by myself!" The hand lets go, and he finds himself slipping on the waxed gym floor again. He fails his arms around, and grabs onto the closest thing within reach.

"What the hell are you doing, dumbass?!" Oh, it was Kageyama.

"Holding onto you, Baka-yama!" He continues to slip, and clings on for dear life. His pillar of stability wobbles, before righting itself.

"What the hell, dumbass Hinata, do you want both of us to fall?"

"Stupid Kageyama, why don't you try walking around in socks by yourself?!" He stamps his foot to emphasize his point, and slips again. They fall down in a heap. "Oomph, Kageyama, get, oomph, _off,_ you're heavy!"

Kageyama raises himself a few inches, "Dumbass! Dumbass Hinata!"

_So close._ He inhales, and sighs happily.

"Get a room, idiots." They both pause, and look at Tsukishima, who looked quite peeved, "Don't take_ forever,_ or we'll play without you."

"Tsukki!"

Kageyama huffs, and takes Hinata tightly by the wrist.

"Kageyama, _Hey!_" He's being dragged away again, "Kageyama!"

"Do you want to hit my tosses, or not?" Kageyama growls.

"Yeah but—_Kageyama, _listen to me_!_"

"Just hurry up, dumbass!" They've reached the change room, and Kageyama pushes open the door.

Hinata tugs him back frantically, planting his feet firmly on the ground, "But Kageyama, you don't actually have my volleyball stuff!"

There's a sigh, and then Kageyama turns around, places a hand on his back, "...You can wear one of mine."

Oh. "But—" The hand on his back shoves him inside, and the door closes with a click.

He lands on his left foot, looses his balance, and crashes into a bench. Kageyama only spares him a glance, then turns his back on him, and continues rummaging through his sports bag.

Hinata grimaces, and rubs his forearm, "Kageyama, I don't think yours—" Something flies at him, narrowly missing his ear, and ricochets off the wall. It rolls off the bench, falls to the floor, coming to a stop at his socked-foot. "A water bottle isn't—" A pair of shorts hit his face. "Kageyama—" He catches the shoes on reflex, "_KAGEYAMA!_"

He doesn't turn around, "What."

"I CAN'T WEAR YOUR STUFF; THEY WON'T FIT_!_"

"...why?"

_Oh my god,_ he considers tearing out his hair, or maybe tearing out Kageyama's, but he likes Kageyama's hair... _ UGH I GUESS IT DOESN'T MATTER AS LONG AS I CAN JUMP._ Hinata puts on the shorts, and ties the strings tightly around his waist. They are too long, and a bit baggy, but do-able. He looks at Kageyama, who nods._ !_ He slips a foot into the volleyball shoes, _?_ "Kageyama, are you actually my size?!"

"Hah?! I'm not as short as you, dumbass. These are from elementary school."

_Elementary...school..._ _At least you can play!_ _Yeah!_ He unbuttons the pistachio green top next, and it joins his pyjama bottoms on the bench. He looks expectantly at Kageyama, who is standing there with empty hands.

"I don't have an extra shirt."

Hinata shrugs, "I'll just wear your jacket."

Kageyama eyes widen, but he doesn't move.

_O.K. then,_ Hinata wonders if he should wait for him to explain, but the idea falls out the window when he remembers_ the game is going to resume soon, and if we're not there—_ He rushes towards it, fully intent on swiping the innocent neat thing _(that smelled really good)_ lying folded beside the bag _(which he has been in, literally)_, but Kageyama appears in between them.

He shifts his weight, and fakes a left, then goes right. Still blocked. "Stop fooling around, and let me put it on, idiot!" He lounges, dodges the block, and zooms to the left. "Ka—ge—ya—ma!" He ducks, and jumps over the lowered arms, and grabs the jacket with both hands. Another pair of hands also latches onto it, and he's yanked forward, colliding against a hard chest.

Kageyama's hand grabs his shoulder, and pushes him away, "Don't touch me."

Surprised, he lets go, and flies back, landing on his butt. Kageyama's back is turned to him, Not again, and he lets out a growl of frustration, "Kageyama."

No response.

"Kageyama."

Nothing.

He chomps on his lower lip in frustration, _What the heck Kageyama,_ why are you so upset, why aren't you talking to me—_You gave me such a great toss just a couple of minutes ago—_ He rushes at Kageyama, and tackles him with his whole body weight.

"Dumb—_!_" Kageyama's on the bottom this time, slightly wheezing, "I told—you—not—to—touch—_!_"

"DON'T IGNORE ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, BAKA-YAMA!" Kageyama squirms underneath him, twisting his torso in an effort to throw him off._ You are not going anywhere until we settle this,_ Hinata thinks, firmly planting both of his hands onto Kageyama's shoulders, locking them against the tile floor of the change room, "I can wear your shoes, even your shorts, but not your jacket?" _I love your jacket,_ "Why?"

Kageyama clamps his mouth shut, and looks away.

_I cuddle with it whenever you're not around; it reminds me of you._

He can practically see the outline of Kageyama's jaw muscles clenching.

"...Why did you stop tossing to me?"

Blue eyes close.

_Don't you want to toss to me anymore?_

"...I want to toss to you," Kageyama whispers, "But I can't," he pauses, and says in an even softer voice, "...I can't control myself."

"That's stupid!" He can't believe it's because of that, like what the heck?! He slaps his hands on the sides of Kageyama's cheeks and forces him to turn and look him straight in the eye, "You're the best at volleyball! You just have to practice!" _Duh!_

"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, DUMBASS!" Kageyama props himself up with his elbows, and shoves his face into Hinata's, "WHEN YOU'RE AROUND MY HEART GOES DOKI, DOKI, AND MY MIND SCRAMBLES, I CAN'T THINK COHERENT THOUGHTS, HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSE TO TOSS TO—OR EVEN PRACTICE WITH—YOU, DUMBASS?!"

_Oh. _Amber eyes fill with understanding._  
_

He sighs, and closes his eyes, "I think I—"

"I love you too, Kageyama."

What. He stares blankly at the orange dumbass smiling up at him.

"I said I love you too—"

"SHUT UP, DUMBASS, I WASN'T EVEN DONE YET!"_ Wait. Love. You said you...love me...too... What._ Kageyama can feel his heart accelerating, and something tells him he needs to say something back, _something,_ "...You were the furball."

Nod.

"The _orange_ furball."

Nod.

"And now—?"

Hinata shrugs, "I turned back."

His eyebrow furrows, "Then the whole time...the milk, the volleyball practice in my backyard...it was _you_?"

Nod.

"But now you're not the orange furball anymore."

Hinata bobs his head up and down happily, "And I can play again!"

He feels excitement slowly flowing back through his body, and his fingertips start to tingle, "We're down by three points."

Hinata leaps to his feet, "But now, you have me hitting your tosses."

Yeah, he flaps the jacket, and helps the dumbass put it on, _We're going to catch up, now that Hinata's here._

_—Now that we're here, you mean_, Hinata's eyes seem to shoot back. His fingers are tingling, and this must be contagious, because it's spreading through his body, and he wants to—

"Hinata, Kageyama!" it's Suga, calling from outside the door, "Coach says to hurry up."

"Coming!" They rush to the door, and Kageyama pulls Hinata back before they exit. He leans down, fingers threaded through orange, and their lips meet briefly.

He pulls away, cheeks warm, and Hinata laughs, and throws open the door.

The orange dumbass is sprinting onto court, yelling, "Toss, Kageyama, Toss!"

He runs after him, "Slow down, dumbass!"

* * *

_Afterwards, Kageyama insists he's the one that took the initiative because, "I have to toss before you spike it, Dumbass."_

* * *

Some interesting things:

The timing was troublesome. Originally, it was suppose to be winter, but that didn't really fit into the time frame, so it's basically any other time of the year without snow, since winter apparel/cooler temperature isn't really mentioned.

Kageyama's Oto-san went to who-knows-where-on-his-business-trip. The location is named thus because who actually knows where he went? The author certainly doesn't. The word 'meatball' kept appearing when the word 'milkbox' was attempted to be typed in. Maybe Kageyama secretly likes meatballs too, or something. Or maybe I was hungry. When I was typing out 'milkbox' I kept typing in 'meatball' and then having to erase it.

The story says 'incomplete', but it really is complete, in a way, because the main plot is complete. I planned adding an epilogue/extra chapter after this chapter, to tie up some loose ends in the beginning. I'm not sure when that'll be put up, nor if it's because I want Oikawa to meet Kagehina, or if it's just an excuse for me to write some Iwaoi :P

-9/10- Today :D


	7. Chapter 7: Go Back

I lied. It was technically still one more chapter to go, but I started thinking too much about Tobio.

_And sometimes when we want to dive straight in,_  
_We forget the beauty of taking things slow._  
_Mistakes and the past are not to be forgotten,_  
_Because they make me think of you._

So maybe it's a relationship between two idiots, but they're not hopeless, not yet, because where Hinata initiates based on feelings, Kageyama thinks before he acts (usually, anyways).  
When Hinata forgets to apologize, Kageyama does.  
When Hinata says it's no big deal, Kageyama goes back and fixes it anyways.  
_Because it's important,_ he says, _Because I hurt your feelings._

* * *

When Kageyama tosses, the butterflies are outside, instead of a flutter in his stomach, they're flying in the open, and the bright smile on Hinata's face is totally worth it.

The awful memory of _ wanting-to-touch-but-not-being-able-to_ blurs, and he wonders _why he ever thought of stop tossing to his dumbass furball in the first place._

* * *

_Whoever said being "in love" is like living in paradise is stupid,_ Kageyama decides as he knows, from the moment the ball leaves his fingers, that his tosses hadn't been on par with the ones from a few days ago.

Hinata, being the one who got secret practice from the Coach Ukai himself, hits it over the net anyways, and manages to make it good, _Damn him. _

_No, _Kageyama corrects himself, half-listening to Nishinoya say, "Nice kill!",_ it's a good thing that Hinata can hit it well like this. _After all, their double _konobo _quick wouldn't be possible without their each respective improvements.

Upgrades, is what it seems to be more like.

Plus, Kageyama ignores the questioning glance Hinata has just thrown him, we wouldn't be able to go to the nationals without it.

But still, a swirling pit in his chest makes him wonder if his tosses would be needed any longer.

Considering how they've been really off lately thanks to a certain _someone._

Their double _konobo_ quick is not possible unless he gives an accurate drop-toss. Once again, thanks to a certain _someone_, their success rate so far this week is dropping to a pathetic 68%. When the volleyball is above his head, it is always_ orange, orange, orange,_ that his eyes focus on, and while he adores the colour (next to blue and milky-white), he does not appreciate the butterflies, the clenching of his stomach, nor the way he tends to aim at Hinata's face instead of where he will hit it because it's–

"Maybe you're in love?" Suga-san had suggested when he told him, in private, of his recent symptoms.

He accepted it at first, but when Hinata asked him if blueberries ever turn red, he felt along with the usual urge to smother his head, an iron brick drop in his stomach. The butterflies woke up.

"Kageyama?"

"Um," he tried really hard to focus on the question, but _Blueberries, did he mean me?_ keeps running through his head and he can't quite process it so–"Special ones do, I think."

When Hinata gave him a bright smile, he wanted to wrap his arms around the dumbass and skip volleyball practice right then and there.

That was when he decided Suga-san, for once, must be mistaken. Kageyama Tobio is sick; he's allergic to Hinata, tossing to him in particular.

–_Technically, though, one is not suppose to diagnose oneself. _

The ball is up in the air, and Asahi jumps, prescence saying 'Send it to me.' So he does, with a judgement call and smooth wrist movement. It flies nice and high, and the thump when the ball hits the floor is satisfying to hear.

The butterflies stay asleep.

Kageyama nods to himself. This proves that he had somehow become allergic to Hinata. He looks down at the dumbass who's up in his face eagerly, shouting, "Toss to me, next, Kageyama! Toss to me!"

But they won't be good tosses, he wants to say. But he doesn't. Instead, he pushes away the orange dumbass with one hand, "Dumbass! Dumbass Hinata!"

So, no more tosses.

He tries to ignore the hurt in those amber eyes as practice comes to an end, and he hasn't sent a toss in that direction once.

_Hopefully my allergy goes away soon._

* * *

Posted to Tumblr, a few weeks ago when I was fervently trying to finish this story. It's kind of a 'prequel', but I wanted to insert it as a sort of Tobio-thinking-back-to-the-beginning-while-starting-his-new-relationship. I still feel guilty about writing a prequel when I have the sequel half-done and leaving you guys hanging for so long.

Please chew on this for a bit while waiting for my slow writing to pick up it's pace. (And maybe review? Or come on Tumblr and we can chat and you can scream at me. *I've been wanting to scream at myself a couple of times already*)


	8. Chapter 8: You didn't ask yet?

_In which Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyou finally take up Oikawa's offer._

* * *

_"But now you're not the orange furball anymore."_

_Hinata bobs his head up and down happily, "And I can play again!"_

_He feels excitement slowly flowing back through his body, and his fingertips start to tingle, "We're down by three points."_

_Hinata leaps to his feet, "But now, you have me hitting your tosses."_

_Yeah, he flaps the jacket, and helps the Dumbass put it on, We're going to catch up, now that Hinata's here._

_—Now that we're here, you mean, Hinata's eyes seem to shoot back. His fingers are tingling, and this must be contagious, because it's spreading through his body, and he wants to—_

_"Hinata, Kageyama!" it's Suga, calling from outside the door, "Coach says to hurry up."_

_"Coming!" They rush to the door, and Kageyama pulls Hinata back before they exit. He leans down, fingers threaded through orange, and their lips meet briefly._

_He pulls away, cheeks warm, and Hinata laughs, and throws open the door._

_The orange dumbass is sprinting onto court, yelling, "Toss, Kageyama, Toss!"_

_He runs after him, "Slow down, Dumbass!"_

* * *

He sets his bag down, and pulls his black t-shirt over his head. He flaps it, watches it fold in midair, then sets it down on top of his drawer. He puts on his indoor shirt, then shimmies out of his jeans. He turns around, reaches out for his sweatpants hanging behind his door, and pauses.

_Something is missing._

He looks over his shoulder at his sports bag lying innocently beside his red-and-green immobile volleyball._ ?_ He waits, but his mind stays blank. His eyes drift over to his bedroom window that's open halfway. There's a spark, but it goes out as soon as it appears, and his mind is still blank, like the black on his jersey before the white number '9' got printed on it.

_Except, something is definitely missing._

He closes his eyes, and tries to think about the half-open window, in hopes that what ever it was would come back. _What did I forget, damn it!?_

Kageyama stands there for a while, torso facing the window, half of his body tucked into the space between his door and the wall, in nothing but his boxers, with his sweatpants in his hands.

A cold gust of wind brushes his right calf, and snaps him out of it. _It's...kind of cold._ He looks down at his legs, then at the sweatpants that were still in his hands._ I should...probably put these on._

* * *

A hot bath and several intense staring contests (with the window) later, he's lying on his bed, his left arm thrown over his face.

He can't remember the stupid damn thing he forgot, but he has a feeling that, whatever it is, it isn't in his room.

First of all, he would've remembered it if he saw it.

Second, if it is there, he wouldn't have forgotten it.

_That doesn't exactly make any sense._

He groans and sits up. Apparently a sleepy Kageyama brain doesn't function properly either. He looks over at his phone, charging on his bedside table. He takes it, checking the USB connection, and turns it on. He blinks when the harsh light shines into his eyes, illuminating his face.

* * *

_He sort of looks at the ground when they part at the crosswalk. He kind of stops walking, and jams his hands roughly into his pockets, "Hinata." _

_He doesn't look up, but hears the bike wheels stop turning, and feels Hinata lean into his right side questioningly. _

_"I...I won't stop tossing to you." The crickets chirp loudly._

_"Kageyama," He can't see Hinata's face, but his tone makes his eyebrows knit a little. _

_This relationship is going to be so complicated. _

_But his heart constricts when the Dumbass raises his head and gives him a beaming smile, "You better not!"_

_A vein instantly pops, and he curls his fingers tightly around orange locks, "I'm being serious, Dumbass!"_

_"Ow!" Hinata pulls at his arm, "You're going to make me go bald!"_

He looks down at the old set of one-sided text bubbles, at the ones he had sent, and at the ones Hinata sent from his phone. A warm feeling spreads through his stomach. The butterflies are there, but there's something else along with it, and the fluttery feeling isn't as scary as before.

_This relationship...I can't imagine having it any other way, or with any other person. _

Kageyama blinks,_ I never got to ask how he turned into a cat._

He looks at the string o_f monocolored bubbles some more. Knowing him, _the corner of his mouth pulls down,_ it must've been something stupid. _

It had been...four days since Hinata turned into a cat. Assuming it happened at the same time he started to skip practice, that is.

Well, technically five days, because he found the orange dumbass—_I mean, Hinata_—curled up in his bag in the morning, which meant the dumbass trekked down the steep hill all the way to Kageyama's house, and broke in through his window, the night before.

Kageyama makes a mental note to remind the orange dumbass to come in through his door next time.

_Orange dumbass?_

He squeezes his eyes shut in exasperation, _I mean, Hinata._ _Then again, he is a dumbass, and he's orange too—Isn't that for the furball?_—_Well, they are the same person,_—_A kitten is not a person._—_Technically_  
_this orange furball was_—_The orange furball existed in the_  
_past,_—_I AM TALKING ABOUT THE PAST RIGHT NOW_—_BUT HINATA IS HINATA NOW, THERE IS NO MORE ORANGE FURBALL._—_HE STILL LOOKS LIKE AN ORANGE FURBALL_—_HE'S NOT AN ORANGE FURBALL, HE'S YOUR ORANGE FURBALL_—

Kageyama can feel his cheeks starting to heat up, and he shakes his head furiously, _Just shut up._—_Don't tell me to shut up; I'M_  
_YOUR INNER CONCIOUS, TOBIO_—_NO YOU'RE NOT._—_YES, I AM_—

Kageyama's head is starting to throb, Why are you here, inside my head?

_I'm your inner conscious. I can only be inside you._

_..._

_I will leave once you do something useful, such as falling asleep. Or, maybe text your boyfriend goodnight like normal boyfriends too._

_Hn. _Kageyama swipes his thumb right, and he quirks his eyebrow at Oikawa's name placing third on his 'recent texts. It's marked as read, and he vaguely recalls thinking about one of Oikawa's texts a while ago, but he has no idea what it said.

He thinks about trying to remember it, but this only results in the stupid voice in his head nagging him to say goodnight to Hinata. He clamps one hand over his ear,—

_That's not effective at all_—Kageyama's head is starting to throb, _Why are you here?_

_I am your inner conscious, I'm always inside you._

_Go somewhere else inside me, then. _

_I will leave once you do something useful, such as falling asleep. Or, maybe text your boyfriend goodnight like normal boyfriends too._

_Hn._ Kageyama swipes his thumb right, and he quirks his eyebrow at Oikawa's name making it to the top five on his 'recent texts. It's marked as read, and he vaguely recalls thinking about one of Oikawa's texts a while ago, but he has no idea what it said.

He thinks about trying to remember it, but this only results in the stupid voice in his head nagging him to say goodnight to Hinata. He clamps one hand over his ear,

_—That's not effective at all—Leave._

and opens it.

_5 days ago, 5:07 pm_

_To: Tobio-chan_

_Tobio-chan! Feel free to come hang out with me and Iwa-chan once _  
_you've figured out your life, 'kay? :)_

Figured out my life? Kageyama feels like he's had this conversation before somewhere. He skims over the text again, and the first line catches his eye: _Feel free to come hang out with me and Iwa-chan_

His heart starts pounding quickly, not the 'I-see-the-dumbass-is-here' quickly, it's the volleyball quickly, the one where he's about to contact the ball, and all he can think of is their new quick and Oikawa's face when he sees it_—_But Coach did say it is suppose to be a surprise so they won't be allowed to use it.

However,_ This is,_ his brows furrow, _A chance to play volleyball with Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-san?_

The frown disappears, and his face splits into his signature grin full of teeth (the one that Hinata calls creepy, but it's actually not, it's just his face)  
_Hell yeah._

_10:07 pm_

_To: Oikawa-senpai_

_When?_

He holds his breath and waits.

_10:08 pm Oikawa-senpai_

_Tom morning at 9 works for me and Iwa-chan._

Kageyama nods, though no one can see him. No classes are scheduled for tomorrow, which meant they would be cleared from Daichi's "The vice-principal already hates you" lecture, and Suga's lecture following his.

_10:08 pm KTobio_

_Sounds good. Where do we meet?_

_10:08 pm Oikawa-senpai_

_Sendai station~_

_10:08 KTobio_

_K_

He swipes right, adrenaline starting to pump through his veins. His thumbs hover over the keypad when he comes to the realization that it still says _DumbasswhoiscurrentlyMIA_ in midtext.

He hits backspace, watching the letters disappear with satisfaction.

_To: Hinata_

He tilts his head to one side, studying the almost foreign word._ Too formal._

_To: Shouyo_—_Shit, shit, shit,_ he madly erases that. Nope. Not yet.

He tries to imagine the dumbass calling him 'Tobio' with his adorable orange bedhead that he's forever trying to smush. The sides of his face starts to burn, and he promptly pushes that particular image away.

Filing it into the back of his head, for, well, later.

Whatever that means.

But he can't write _Shouyou_—the butterflies are flying again, and it's almost a good flutter this time but not, because _the dumbass furball isn't here with him right now_ and he's pretty sure everything would be so much better if—

_Bingo._ His thumbs do a quick dance on the keyboard, then taps save.

_10:10 pm_

_To: Mydumbassfurball_

_Meet tom at 8:50 JR station. We're going to play volleyball._

* * *

In the Hinata residence, all lights were out, except for a fluorescent trapezoid glowing in the west bedroom, and an unusually long shadow with tussled hair standing by the bed.

Hinata is buttoning up his last button on his Pistschio pyjamas when he hears a ping.

_1 new text from Grand King._

He sits down on his bed, one leg folded under him,

_10:09 Grand King_

_Congrats, chibi-chan!_

_10:09 pm_

_Um, thanks?_

_10:09 Grand King_

_Aww chibi-chan, ur so adorable ~_

_10:09 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Don't u only call Kageyama that?_

_10:09 Grand King_

_Not anymore ;)_

_Why was the Grand King winking at him?_ Hinata studies the emoji, puzzled_, This is weird. _

He shrugs, _I guess I'll just ask Kageyama about it._

His phone pings, as if right on cue.

_10:10 pm __Kags :3_

_Meet tom at 8:50 JR station. We're going to play volleyball._

_Volleyball?! _Hinata's spine straightens, and he smashes his screen rapidly,

_10:10 pm_

_To: __Kags :3_

_\\(`v`|)/ the one by the ramen stand?_

_10:10 pm __Kags :3_

_yeah _

_not getting ramen tho_

_10:11 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_BUT I WANT \\(TTwTT)/ _

_10:11 pm __Kags :3_

_No._

_10:12 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_KAGEYAMA PLZ_

_I'M HUNGRY_

_10:12 pm __Kags :3_

_Wth u just ate_

_10:12 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Like 4 hours ago_

_Ur_ _ungry too_

_10:12 pm __Kags :3_

_.._

_not rlly_

_10:12 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_A LIE_

_U HESITATED_

_10:12 pm __Kags :3_

_IM HUNGRY BCAUSE U BROUGHT IT UP DUMBASS_

_10:12 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_\\(^-^)/~_

_So ramen_

_10:12 pm __Kags :3_

_No_

_10:13 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Imma pay for both of us ;)_

_10:13 pm __Kags :3_

_NO RAMEN_

Hinata pouts,_ but I want to eat something with you. Just the two of us. _

_10: 13 pm_

_Y u being so difficult. It's free food. Just say yes._

_10:15 pm __Kags :3_

_I don't like ramen_

_10:15 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_I don't like it either_

_10:15 pm __Kags :3_

_Y THE HELL DO U WANT IT THEN_

_10:15 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Theres no bakery nearby_ _thou _

_10:15 pm __Kags :3_

_ill bring some buns w/ me_

He feels a happy smile bloom across his face,

_\\(^.^)/ I win_

_10:15 pm __Kags :3_

_I'll still get there first_

He clicks his tongue,

_No u wont_

_imma bring the volleyball, then_

_10:16 pm __Kags :3_

_Ok_

Hinata fights a yawn, and ends up sneezing instead.

_10:16 pm __Kags :3_

_…r u yawning or smthing?_

_10:16 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_OMG KAGS THAT IS SO CREEPY_

_10:17 pm __Kags :3_

_I'm just that observant._

_Go to sleep._

_10:17 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_but i still wanna talk to u_

_10:17 pm __Kags :3_

_NO U DUMBASS I SAID GO TO SLEEP_

_10:18 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_not tired_

_10:18 pm __Kags :3_

_8:50 don't b late_

He stares at the blue bubble for a while, before remembering he still needed to reply,

_10:20 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_I WON'T!_

_10:20 pm __Kags :3_

_Night, dumbass_

_Oh, and we'll be playing against Oikawa-senpai and Iwaizumi-senpai_

_10:20 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_THE GRAND KING!?_

_10:20 pm __Kags :3_

_Make sure u rest properly_

_10:21 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Just wait and see_

_i'm gonna b there bfore u_

_10:21 pm __Kags :3_

_U can try_

_10:21 pm Hinata Shouyou_

_Fine, I'll go to sleep_

_Good night_

Hinata powers off his phone and lies down, pulling the covers over his head. He thinks about how he was about to type 'Good night Tobio', and about facing the Grand King tomorrow. He listens to the loud _thump-__**thump **_pulsing through his body until he drifts off to sleep.

* * *

He leans his bike against the front gate, slings his backpack on, reaches over and flicks the latch. "Sorry for the intrusion!" Hinata calls out, unsure of whether this counted or not, because, technically he was on private property now, though he hadn't stepped into the house. He dusts off the sleeve of the Karasuno jacket he's wearing, and presses the little button.

"Hinata-kun, is it?" A tall woman opens the door at the first _ding dong_ of the doorbell. He nods, the orange lock of hair on his forehead bobbing up and down. "I'm Kageyama's mom. Would you like to come in?" She holds open the door a little wider.

"Sure, thank you." He toes off his volleyball sneakers, and steps onto the wooden floor in his socks. The round analog clock mounted on the wall has a short hand between the numbers '8' and '9', long hand in between the numbers '1' and '2'. "Is Kageyama up yet?"

She turns and disappears around a corner. There are a series of light footsteps up the stairs, and five sharp raps on the door, "Tobio, you friend is here!" Her voice is crisp and clear, and bounces off the walls.

_Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick_\- Heavy thumping sounds drown out the clock, and he flinches, taking a step back. The thumping noises grow louder as they come closer. Um. Okay, Kageyama didn't say there was a giant living with him in the house. His shoulder bumps into the door, and he wonders if it would be considered rude for Kageyama's kaa-san to return to find their guest had disappeared. His hand fumbles blindly behind him, searching for the doorknob. _Bingo._ The thumping sounds have stopped.

Hinata looks up, and sees the familiar scowl and flattened black hair, remnants of sleep hanging in the air. His hands cease trembling. "Kageyama, good morning!" He gives his partner in crime-_in volleyball_-a bright smile, but doesn't take his hand off the cool doorknob, just in case.

Kageyama's eyebrows knit dangerously, "Why are you in my house at eight in the morning?"

Hinata feels his smile freeze on his face, "Um, well, weren't we meeting up?"

"Not at my **house**!"

Kageyama takes a step towards him, head bent, shadows cast over his face in all the right places. "Um, well," Hinata holds up his hands in defense, craning his neck to maintain eye-contact, "Actually, I was going to meet you at the station, but I didn't want to leave my bike there, so, um, I came over here to see if you wanted to walk together. And if I can leave my bike here. What were you doing, anyways?"

A hand slams against the door, inches away from his head, "It's 8 o'clock, Dumbass! I was sleeping!"

His chest jitters, and he juts out his chin, "I...was getting ready for the volleyball match, of course!"

Kageyama blinks, and his frown fades into a neutral line. There is a strange spark in his eyes, and he doesn't look sleepy anymore. Kageyama turns away abruptly, and disappears around the corner, "Wait here."

Several _tick-tock_s later, he's back, fully dressed, and tying the laces on his black shoes. Hinata bounces on the balls of his feet beside him, because they'll be versing the Grand King soon and his trusty side kick and Hinata can't wait to see their faces when-

"Did you eat yet?" It's a soft whisper, which Hinata doesn't hear. In fact, he didn't realize his setter had even said something until he sees Kageyama looking at him expectantly.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Never mind," Kageyama mutters, and straightens up, reaching over him for the door.

"What, what did you say?" Hinata makes room for the door to open.

"I said, never mind!"

"No, Kageyama, tell me!"

"Tobio," calls a voice from...some other room. They both pause, the front door half-way closed, "Are you going to eat breakfast?"

Hinata watches Kageyama shake his head, and resists the urge to tell him that, as powerful as moms are, _he's pretty sure they don't have X-ray vision and can't see through walls_. Then again, he recalls the time when he'd been riding home in fifth grade when his bike had hit a rock, and he had flew over the handlebars. He had laid there on his stomach, wind knocked out of him, and his mom had appeared beside him, scooped him up in her arms, and brought him home. This morning, he had barely pulled back his hand from the doorbell when it had opened, and welcomed him inside.

Okay, he thinks they don't have X-ray vision. He could be wrong though. Or maybe it was some other sort of super power, where they just knew what was going to happen, like a-a-psychotic, no, wait, that's for the people in the white robes, a-right, a psychic person. Was the word psychic? Physic? Or physiotherapist? Hinata wasn't entirely sure; they all sounded like the same thing. He knew they were different, though.

"No, we're going out."

* * *

They take the long way to the train station, Kageyama's sports bag nudging Hinata's hips occasionally. They don't hold hands or speak, but that's okay, Hinata thinks, because the meat bun is nice and warm in his hand, and his mouth is full of food, the scrambled eggs from this morning long forgotten probably down somewhere in some tube in his body digesting. Then the round bun is gone, and he turns to ask for another, only to see the single round fist-sized shape of the paper bag.

He reaches for it, and his hand is promptly batted away.

He frowns and darts at Kageyama, arms outstretched. Kageyama sidesteps, and he's suddenly hurtling onto the empty road. Long fingers snag the collar of his shirt and yank him back, "What the fuck, Dumbass?!"

The best thing about being with Kageyama is that there are rarely any moments wasted in silence.

Hinata glares, but it doesn't really work because his lips are pointed in a pout, and Kageyama really wants to reach over and flick his nose, but both his hands are currently occupied with the paper bag and his milkbox, so he opts for straight-out swearing instead.

"I want the last meatbun!" Hinata makes another jump, but the paper bag swings out of reach.

Kageyama's left eye squints at him, "No way, Dumbass!"

"But, Kageyama!" Hinata yells, clamping both his hands on the sleeve of his outstretched arm. He doesn't add 'I'm hungry', because if-when he focuses, he really just wants it, but the scrambled eggs are still there, along with the rice, and the other chewed-up meatbuns, but his tongue isn't satisfied with the flavours that had already exploded in his mouth-

"I get this one," He says around the straw in his mouth, emphasizing his words with a little shake of the bag, "I paid for all five of them."

"No fair!" Hinata takes a jump, and he spins a 360 degrees.

He sucks his milk angrily, then swallows, "You had three!"

Hinata stops jumping, but bounces angrily beside him, "I-, well, it tastes good!"

He doesn't respond to that arguement, it really wasn't even an arguement. They both knew they tasted good. Otherwise, what other reason existed for him to buy them? Honestly.

Hinata kicks at a loose pebble with his foot, then says, "I like meatbuns the best," he gives Kageyama a look, "You can have your milk."

Kageyama shrugs, and looks ahead, "I want both."

"What?!" Hinata looks scandalized, "This is a pick-and-choose world, Bakageyama! You can't have both!"

He concentrates on the cold liquid flowing down his throat, "I can if I want to."

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I **can**!"

"No, you **CAN'T**!"

Kageyama turns his head, meeting his amber eyes with an unreadable look, "Well I have you and volleyball now, don't I? I didn't have to choose one over the other."

Hinata blinks, and tilts his head to one side. Kageyama looks ahead again, and misses the moment when Hinata figures it out and ducks his head, "That-That's different. You aren't BEING FAIR, BAKAGEYAMA!"

"You're the one that's not being fair!"

"You can't share FIVE meatbuns between two people!"

"Yes, you can!"

"No, you can't!

"Yes, you can!"

"Not if I can't reach it!"

"You ALREADY HAD THREE!"

"BUT IT'S THE LAST ONE! I WANT THE LAST ONE!"

"WELL, I'M HAVING IT!"

"BUT YOU ALWAYS SHARE WITH ME!"

"I GAVE YOU THREE, DIDN'T I?!"

"WELL, I-"

"Tsk," Kageyama makes a face, and shoves the paper bag at the smaller hands, "Fine. If you're that hungry, you can have it."

"I'm not actually hungry-" Hinata's words are cut off by a hollow rumble. He's pretty sure the noise didn't come from him. The road is still pretty empty, which meant...

Kageyama was walking briskly away from him, aiming at a trashcan nearby. The milkbox goes in without a sound. Another rumbling sound filled the growing gap between them. Hinata shoves his hand into the bag, there's a tearing sound, and he's running, waving the last meatbun in the air. He takes a running leap at Kageyama, wraps an arm around Kageyama's neck, and promptly tries to shove it blindly, because he can't see Kags's face, into his setter's mouth.

"What the hell are you doing, Dumbass?!" Or, well, that's what Hinata thinks he's said, because Kageyama is also making weird gagging noises and _people don't die of hunger that quickly, do they?!_

He scrambles off quickly, and claps his setter's face with a hand and a meatbun, "Kageyama, don't die!"

Kageyama coughs into the crook of his elbow four times, then wipes his mouth with the back of his wrist, "I'm not dying, jeez." Another hollow rumble reaches Hinata's ears, and he's pretty sure this time that it's coming from Kageyama.

"Kageyama, did you even eat breakfast?"

"Nn-yesh."

Sometimes, Hinata thinks, having a grumpy setter that fakes his death is really annoying. "Nnyesh? What does that mean? Is it 'no' or 'yes'?"

"We're going out, aren't we? We can eat later."

"You skipped breakfast?!" Hinata is scandalized. What? How was that even fair? And Kageyama is taller AND bigger than him!

"It doesn't matter, you eat that, and we'll eat some more later-" Kageyama chokes, and shoves Hinata's hand away, stumbling back, "Are you trying to kill me?!"

"No, " Hinata rolls his eyes, and waves the offending bun in his face, "I'm feeding you the meatbun."

"I don't want it anymore."

"Well, I don't want it anymore. It has all your slobber on it. Gross."

"Gross? You're the one who stuffed your hand in my mouth!"

"I did not!" Hinata pauses, "Then again, you didn't taste bad when we kissed. Not that you slobbered all over me or anything, you know."

"D-Dumbass!" Kageyama feels his face heating up, and sees Hinata's ears glow bright red.

"A-Anyways," Hinata's mouth twitches, "You have to eat it, or else you'll pass out when we play volleyball!"

Well, one can't really have their setter passing out, especially when it's a two-on-two beach volleyball like game. Kageyama nods, leans in sharply and bites. Swallows, then bites again. Chews, swallow, bites-

"Ow! You're so mean!" Hinata yanks his hand away, now empty, and dashes down the road. The grey station is around two-hundred meters away, and suddenly the orange locks vanishes in the crowd of people.

"What the hell, Dumbass, come back here!" He chases after him, catches sight of the black Karasuno sleeve, and grabs, "Don't get us separated, idiot!"

Hinata doesn't say sorry, but he slips out of his grasp, slips his hand into his, and squeezes tightly, and nods. He cradles his other hand against his chest as they walk. They let go only to take out their respective passes and beep, they're through. He reaches for Hinata's hand again, and they walk to their platform.

"Ah," Hinata bends down and looks through his bag, "I...forgot my water bottle."

"You forgot your _water bottle?_" Kageyama tsks, "For a volleyball game?"

"I was excited, okay?" Hinata zips it up, and puts it back on.

"Whatever," Kageyama looks through his own bag, and pulls out a 2L cold metal bottle, "This one is probably big enough for both of us."

Amber eyes widen, and the bottle is gone from Kageyama's hands. "Ah, this feels so good!" Hinata closes his eyes in bliss, rubbing his hand on it.

Kageyama is pretty sure there's something wrong here, "What are you doing, Dumbass?!"

"Icing the bite of course," Hinata gives him a look, "This is the first time I've gotten bit in two years you know. And even then, it was only by Natsu."

"You ice burns, not bites," Kageyama rolls his eyes, This idiot can't even take care of himself, can he? He runs his fingers over where he had nipped Hinata's palm, "There isn't even a mark."

"Whatever, " Hinata shoots him a wicked smile, and hugs the bottle tightly to his chest, "It's mine now."

"WHAT?!"

The train comes in with a rush, the doors open with a ping, and Hinata hops on with a laugh.

"Dumbass HINATA!" Kageyama rushes after him, "You shitty furball, get the hell back here!"

He chases Hinata from the second-last car to the first, dodging people young and old, until Hinata almost gets trampled by a passenger with curly hair who's twice as tall and three times as big. "Dumbass, I said, get back here!" He reaches out, grabs his wrist, and tugs him towards himself, sending a deadly glare to the person who almost mushed his Dumbass at the same time.

They walk back through the car in silence, and sit down at an empty two seater. There's a moment of silence, with Hinata looking out the window, still hugging the bottle, Kageyama's hand tightly around his wrist, listening to Kageyama's breath.

Hinata loves being with Kageyama because there are rarely any moments wasted in silence_—unless, of course, if it is a comfortable silence_.

Hinata opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. Kageyama raises an eyebrow, and Hinata closes it like a fish seeing a cat.

Kageyama sighs, "What?"

Hinata mumbles something incomprehensible, which earns a confused-and-annoyed setter look. Hinata sighs and slips his wrist out of his now-relaxed grip, and curles his fingers around his, black sleeves a little too long.

Kageyama blinks, and squeezes back, "You could have said."

"Shut up, Bakageyama," Hinata says, but he's smiling and fiddling with his zipper. Kageyama takes the bottle and shoves it back into his bag. Wait a minute.

He whips his head around, and takes a good look at the Karasuno jacket rumpled around Hinata's shoulders, falling past his waist, "Is that..mine?" He swears he can still see the faded blood stain on one side, from when he had gotten a bloody nose.

"Um, maybe?" The train slows down with a _clack, rumble_.

"What do you mean, maybe?" But Hinata is already out the door.

The passengers see an orange blur with a very angry setter hot on his heels. They blur out of the station, and into the green patch of grass and bushes and a tree behind it.

"TRUCE, KAGEYAMA, TRUCE!" Hinata gasps, flopping onto the grass, and Kageyama flies into him and they roll over in the grass, Kageyama on top of him this time. Both of them are breathing heavily, but they seem to conclude at the same time that, maybe it would be a good idea to stop now, because Kageyama would be tossing later, but since it was a two-on-two game, Hinata would probably need to toss too.

Hinata smiles, "I want to try tossing to you, Kageyama!" He squirms out from underneath, and pulls Kageyama up, "Let's try right now!"

Kageyama gives the orange airhead, who's currently waving his hands in the air, a mortified look, grabs his wrist, and proceeds to drag him to the meeting spot.

Oikawa's red plaid shirt is blinding, so it's hard not to spot them.

* * *

The bell chimes as the four of them step in.

"Hey, Tobio-chan," Oikawa says, glancing over his shoulder at his ex-kouhai, "How long-" his million dollar smile falters a bit as he feels rather than sees the orange-haired shorty duck under his arm holding the door open, "Eh?"

"Damn it!" Kageyama hunches over and follows, causing Oikawa to pull his hand back in suprise. The cafe door bangs shut behind him, leaving behind a very disgruntled wing spiker on the outside.

"Ah, Iwa-chan," Oikawa titters at Iwaizumi's not amused face, "Sorry, sorry." His companion says nothing, wretches open the door with a fair amount of force, steps inside, and gives Oikawa a good push. He teeters on one foot before regaining his balance, "Iwa-chan, you are so mean!" He pats his curls absentmindedly, eyes already straying over to where Kageyama has claimed his seat first.

Kageyama and Hinata had been in shock when they had seen Oikawa in beige boat shoes, and nicely fitted skinny jeans. Not because, to Oikawa's chagrin, of the amazing outfit he had picked out, but because_ 'How can you play volleyball in that, Oikawa-san?'_ Really, Oikawa chides himself afterwards, he should have expected something like this. Only this idiotic duo would put volleyball over dressing nicely for a date. Iwaizumi stayed silently by his side, hands in his pockets, as Oikawa shot them an innocently confused look, 'Why would I need to play volleyball today?' Which was quite ironic, because, quite often, 'innocently confused' tend to contradict each other. One can't possibly be innocent AND be confused-one can't be confused without at least a little bit of knowledge in their head, now can they?

Adding in 'Oikawa' to it was rather hilarious, because since when had Oikawa not known something about someone or something? Although, Iwaizumi would like to add, his brown-curls setter often did get confused, if not with himself, then with something or someone else. Hence requiring physical force to knock some sense back into his skull, or maybe inciting brain damage into the screwed up parts. Permission granted solely to Iwaizumi Hajime, of course.

"Hah, I win," Kageyama smirks at Hinata, who is sitting halfway in his seat, struggling with his zipper.

"Rude, Tobio-chan, running in front of your elders," Oikawa dodges a slap to the back of his head, and sits down across, "I thought I taught you better than that."

Kageyama opens his mouth to reply, but whatever he had planned to say is promptly forgotten when Hinata lets out a wail of 'I give up!' and gives the zipper a particularly nasty tug.

"That's my jacket, you dumbass!" He growls. The chibi scores some points in Oikawa's books for cowering, but not trembling and standing his ground.

"But it's not coming off!"

"That's not my problem, is it?" Kageyama turns away and pulls the menu towards himself, "If you ruin it, just by me a new jacket."

Hinata slips one arm out of the sleeve while continuing to tug at the zipper. Apparently he gives up, and tries to pull the jacket over his head, but it gets stuck halfway, the top of his orange hair poking out of the black bundle tangled around his head, "Kageyama, help me! I'm gonna die!"

Kageyama turns to him, and almost falls out of his seat in shock, "What the hell were you doing, dumbass Hinata?!"

"I don't know," the muffled voice wails, "But I can't breathe!?"

Long fingers are instantly poking him from the outside, doing who-knows-what. Hinata fidgets a bit more, until he hears a low growl of 'Stop moving, Dumbass'. Fingers tighten at the hem of the jacket around his armpits, and gives a good tug. "Ow!" Hinata squeaks, as something gets caught on his hair. A few tugs later, and he can see again. He takes a fresh lungful of air, and notices the teddy bear wallpaper for the first time, and the polka-dotted napkins on the white tablecloth. Wow, this place was cute. Even the waiters and waitresses were dressed in bear suits, he notes, as one of them glances at him and starts to walk over.

Kageyama is inspecting his jacket with the pads of his fingers from beside him, but he can feel sharp eyes fixed on the side of his skull, "You got hair on my jacket."

He turns around, and, sure enough, sees an orange strand of hair caught in the zipper, "That was your fault! You pulled it out. Do you want me to go bald, or something?!"

"What?!" Kageyama stops what he's doing, enraged, "I was helping you, idiot! You said you couldn't breathe!"

Oikawa tunes out their voices, opting for taking out the second menu and giving it twenty percent of his attention.

"Excuse me?" A girl with pink hair, wearing bear ears, is holding a notepad in one paw and a pen in the other, "May I take your orders, sirs?"

"One coconut milk pudding and one swiss roll with vanilla cream and blackberries, please!" Oikawa flashes his teeth at her, letting out a gasp of pain shortly afterwards, from the kick to the shin he had received from under the table, courtesy of Iwaizumi Hajime.

"And two strawberry shortcakes," Kageyama adds without batting an eye.

Hinata wonders if Kageyama was simply use to violent displays from his middle school, and was now fairly desensitized. That would explain the iron claw on his own hair all the time. Then it suddenly occured to him that the bear waitress had walked away, "Wait, what about my order?"

"I already ordered for you."

"But you don't know what I wanted!" Hinata pouts.

"What did you want, then?"

"A slice of strawberry shortcake," says Hinata without thinking. Then he realizes that _that_ had been exactly what Kageyama had ordered and shit now here comes the very smug smile on his setter's face, that fades into the look on his face after his dump-shot hits the floor, the opposite team's gaping jaws following closely after. Darn you, Kageyama, Hinata thinks, and mutters, "Well, you never said you were psychic."

Kageyama blinks, surprised, _Only when it comes to you, Dumbass._

"So," Oikawa leans his chin on his hand, "How long have you been dating chibi-chan, Tobio?"

Huh? They look at each other wide-eyed, their cheeks respectively coated with a light sheen of pink.

In the end, it's Hinata who answers the question, "...We're dating?"

Iwaizumi stifles a laugh behind his hand, and Oikawa shoots him a look because, well, because. There were many reasons.

The quirky duo had given Oikawa a look of disbelief, and finally Kageyama breaks the confusion by voicing out his thoughts, which, Oikawa thinks, happens far too often, _'But you said we could meet up for a game of volleyball.'_ The shorty beside him nods enthusiastically, pulling out a battered white-and-blue-and-yellow volleyball from a bag that was definitely _not_ his.

_'Tobio-chan,'_ Oikawa tittered again, _'I asked you to bring chibi-chan with me and Iwaizumi to hang out, ya know? Who said anything about volleyball?'_ Iwaizumi stands silently, as if saying _I told you this would happen._ Oikawa is not ready to give up, though, something must have happened, he's sure of it. He isn't the most wanted guy in the school for nothing, afterall. _'But you said double,'_ Kageyama presses, _'Like, two-vs-two.' 'Wait, Kageyama,' the shorty tugs at his sleeve, eyes narrowed in concentration, 'what if the Grand King meant **double** **date?** Did the Grand King just ask you on a date? Because, like,'_ he points his index finger at Oikawa with a dark look, 'He's not yours, he's mine. Um, setter. He's my setter.'

'Of course he is, chibi-chan,' said Oikawa with a voice of honey, giving Iwaizumi a very sweet smile, _'Now, how about that cute little cafe shop nearby that Tobio-chan really liked?'_ Not that he ever cared what that spoiled brat had liked, it just happened to be the only thing they had in common, second to being the best a volleyball, that is. Setting, anyways. His serves were still better-_are_ still better, he corrects himself.

Their orders arrive, and they dig in, Hinata getting icing on his nose. Kageyama reaches over and wipes it with a napkin, and Hinata uses that chance to steal an extra spoonful of cake off of his setter's plate. This ears him a shove underneath the table. He kicks back, harder.

"Ooh, playing footsie now, are we?" Oikawa is all smiles, but he tugs Iwa-chan a little closer.

Kageyama reddens, "Eat your own cake, Hinata!" He restrains himself from kicking back.

"But I want to know if your cake tastes the same as mine!"

"Fine," he glances curiously at the half-eaten slice on Hinata's plate, "Then let me try yours, too."

"Okay," Hinata scrapes off a piece, careful to save the strawberry, and holds it out, "Say 'Aah'"

Kageyama takes it and swallows, licking his lips, "Tastes pretty much the same. Yours is sweeter, I think."

"Eh? Really?" Hinata puts the next piece in his own mouth, "Hm, if you say so."

Oikawa tugs Iwaizumi's arm, "Feed me too, Iwa-chan, I want to be fed too!"

Iwaizumi flicks his forehead, and goes back to eating the blackberries on the side of his plate.

"Say, chibi-chan, are you dating Tobio-chan or not?" Oikawa says around his mouthful of pudding.

"Well...I don't know?" Hinata gives his partner a questioning look, "I mean, he never asked me? But we like each other?"

Kageyama gives an affirmative shake of his head.

"What? You know when Iwa-chan asked me out," says Oikawa, pausing with a faraway look on his face, "He brought me flowers, actually. Actual flowers! I never thought Iwa-chan would actually give me flowers. He got me a cupcake too, with green icing, leaned close to my face, and said," he paused, letting his voice drop a few octaves, "'I like you, trashykawa. Please go out with me.' and kissed me right on the lips before I even said yes. I still have the flowers in my room though. They were plastic, but they'll last forever even when I forget to water them."

His audience of three blinks at him, almost-empty plates in front of them.

"Um, Oikawa-san, you water plastic flowers?"

"It's the thought that counts, okay?" Oikawa stands up, pushing back his chair with a slight squeak. He places his hands on his hips and said, "Now, Tobio-chan, you better ask out chibi-chan properly. I shall be the best man, and Iwaizumi shall be the witness. Ready, set, go."

Nobody mentions that they're not getting married, yet.

Kageyama looks down at his plate, then into amber eyes. He's not exactly sure how to make this just as good as Iwaizumi's but...He scoops up the last piece of cake on his plate, which still had its strawberry topped on it, and takes a breath, "Hinata Shouyou, I like you a lot. Will you be my boyfriend?"

"Yes-," Hinata says, his ears tinted red again.

Kageyama stuffs the last piece in his new boyfriends mouth before the orange dumbass finish what he was saying, and quickly kisses him.

Oikawa's mouth drops. Iwaizumi is laughing silently beside him.

Hinata is startled, but he kisses back, cake still in his mouth, and Kageyama's taste buds are suddenly overloaded with sweet, strawberry, and other flavours that are very difficult to describe except, "The cake tastes the best this way."

Hinata agrees, darting out his tongue inside his setter's mouth to snag some icing.

* * *

"Thank you for inviting us, Oikawa-san, Iwaizumi-san."

"It was my pleasure, Tobio-chan, my pleasure."

"Um, Iwaizumi-san?" Iwaizumi nods. "Why..didn't you say anything this entire afternoon?" Kageyama's face is void of anything else but genuine curiosity.

"Ah! I was wondering when you'd ask," Oikawa says, "Poor Iwa-chan is under a restraining gag order!" Iwaizumi responds by hitting him. "Ow, Iwa-chan! Anyways, bye, Tobio-chan, chibi-chan!"

Iwaizumi shakes Kageyama's hand and pats him on the shoulder as a silent form of congratulations. He gives Hinata a nod, and the shorty beams back.

"Iwa-chan, don't encourage Tobio!"

* * *

Thank you to all who reviewed, favorite, and followed. This story is finally complete! Adios, and thank you for your ongoing support until the very end.


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